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TEN DOLLARS ENOUGH. Keeping House Well on 

Ten Dollars a Week. i6mo, $i.oo. 
GENTLE BREADWINNERS. The Story of One of 

Them. i6mo, $i.oo. 
MOLLY BISHOP'S FAMILY. i6mo, ^i.oo. 
PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. i6mo, ^i.oo. 

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 

BOSTON AND NEW YORK. 



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^ PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING 

KEEPING HOUSE WITHOUT KNOWING HOW, 

AND KNOWING HOW TO KEEP 

HOUSE WELL 



CATHERINE OWEN 



t-^y. 



author of ten dollars enough, 'molly bishops family, 
"gentle breadwinners," etc. 




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BOSTON AND NEW YORK 
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY 






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Copyright, 1889, 
By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. 



All rights reserved. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
A Few Introductory Remarks 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Order of Work for Monday, with some Instructions 

GOOD FOR EVERY DaY IN THE WeEK . . . .13 

CHAPTER HI. 
The Monday Dinner: Washing 30 

CHAPTER IV. 
Bedroom Work and Ironing 43 

CHAPTER V. 
~" The Ironing Table 51 

CHAPTER VI. 
Washing Dishes and Caring for Lamps . . . .54 



CHAPTER VII. 
Extra Work for Wednesday 



CHAPTER VIII. 
Thursday: Bedroom Sweeping 67 



iv CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

The Waste op the Household : To clarify Fat : To 
MAKE Soft Soap without Boiling 75 



CHAPTER X. 

The Economy of Odds and Ends 



CHAPTER XI. 

Sweeping : Dusting .... 



M 



CHAPTER XII. 
Kitchen Work in General 101 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Housekeeping on a Large Scale: Servants: Market- 
ing : Kitchen Fare 117 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Household Economy 125 

CHAPTER XV. 
Economical Buying 150 

CHAPTER XVI. 

HOUSECLEANING . 155 



i 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 



CHAPTEE I. 

A FEW INTKODTJCTOET BEMABK8. 

ASEEIES of papers on housekeeping is a very 
easy thing to project, but very difiBcult to 
make really useful to the general public. At 
first sight it seemed, with so many '* Housekeepers' 
Assistants," "Domestic Cyclopaedias/' and house- 
hold guides whose existence came to one's memory 
at once, that the last word on the subject must have 
been said, and the demand for more was only to be 
accounted for by the fact that the many books with 
housekeeping titles were too cumbrous in form, and, 
instead of the many, one book was needed, contain- 
ing the gist of all, supplemented and illuminated 
where obscure, by actual and varied experience of 
author or compiler, who would assist the different 
classes of housekeepers to adapt the instructions to 
their own needs. 

With this idea in view the writer prepared for weeks 
of diligent reading and digestion of innumerable 
books on the subject, and not without some dread of 
the work. A first raid was made on the library cata- 
logues under the subject, " Domestic Economy," and 
book after book, with the most promising titles. 



6 PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

opened. But the ''Complete guide to every de- 
partment of Housekeeping, from Poultry Yard to 
the Boudoir," instead of being specially devoted to 
Housekeeping, was found to be a very valuable book 
containing recipes for everything, from engraving on 
glass to making artificial flowers, a very useful book, 
but rather more useful to a carpenter or a druggist 
than to the housekeeper. *' Housekeeper's Assist- 
ants," '' Housekeeping Made Easy," " Complete 
Housekeepers," all were found to be cooking books, 
more or less good, but cooking books pure and sim- 
ple. This was rather a surprising result, and fur- 
ther search revealed the fact that in the largest 
library in New York, not one book was to be found 
treating specially of housekeeping. Housekeeping 
titles were frequent enough, from "Housekeeper's 
Complete Assistant" of 1796 to the present day, 
but cooking books all, — nay, I do the latter-day 
cooking books wrong, for I found more useful house- 
keeping information in the few prefatory pages of 
several latter-day books on cooking, and called simply 
"Cook Books," notably Mrs. Helen Campbell's " The 
Easiest way," than in all the mass of Housekeepers' 
Manuals I could find. After the libraries, book- 
sellers' catalogues were consulted, but the result of 
considerable search seems to have but one conclu- 
sion, — a book on liousekeeping has yet to be written ; 
it cannot be a compiled work, for there is nothing 
to compile from. It is, therefore, with a very keen 
appreciation of the difficulty of the task before me 
that I commence a series of papers which, however 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 7 

they may fall short of the uniyersal usefulness hoped 
for, will be written with earnest effort to approach 
that point. Of course, not every one will be suited. 
Old and successful housekeepers, who have made 
rigid and undeviating order their rule through life 
and see the results in domestic machinery that goes 
like clock work, will disapprove of the elastic con- 
ditions I would advocate, while to the latitudmarian 
housemother (and I have known very happy families 
brought up with a joyous disregard of all hours or 
rules, but — and the but is very large — the means 
were ample) limited means and disregard of order 
mean the most sordid discomfort. 

My sermon, however, will always be from the same 
text : " Keep house, in order to live comfortably ; 
don't live in order to keep house." The ideal house- 
keeper is the one who, without seeming to give much 
heed to the wheels of her household machinery, has 
it in such perfect running order that it seems to go of 
itself. Of such a one we shall hear it said, " she has 
such good fortune with her servants," etc. Once suited, 
she probably keeps them for years, and her friends 
ignore the weeks or months of search that may have 
preceded this happy state. Such women are rare ; 
they have the administrative gift, — the knack of get- 
ting things done for them in the way they wish, and 
knowing quite well the way things should be done. 
"We can each recall, perhaps, one such easy-going 
house, where everything seems to fall into its place, 
where there appear to be no immutable laws, and yet 
we may be sure the price of this seeming ease and 



8 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEEEEPING. 

smootliness is constant yigilance and patience on the 
part of the house mistress. 

Far more familiar to us is the strenuous house- 
keeper, whose days — and who may say how much of 
her nights — are pervaded by anxiety as to her servants 
and children, who is only miserably conscious that, 
try as she will, she cannot realize her own ideal of 
housekeeping. She allows herself no leisure or re- 
spite, but only by such effort does it seem possible to 
have the meals served punctually, and with the neat- 
ness she loves. If her eye and hand are withdrawn 
chaos reigns. 

The difference between these two women is only to 
be accounted for by temperament, to be recognized 
and regretted, but not argued with. Greatly as the 
friends of the woman whose nervous energy does not 
allow her to delegate her work successfully to others, 
may deplore her waste of strength and life, no amount 
of argument can change her nature. 

There is yet another kind of housekeeper, which I 
may briefly describe as the martinet. Such a one will 
need no information that these papers can impart ; 
she would scarcely consider that the easy sway of my 
ideal housekeeper, whose elastic order is seen in its 
results, but never heard of, is housekeeping at all. 
The great thing to be desired in housekeeping, is 
the comfort of all who live in the house. This goes 
before every other thing ; to ensure it, order, punc- 
tuality, and cleanliness are necessary, but if the order 
or cleanliness are obtrusive, comfort is impossible. 

I take for granted that those who will be most in- 



PR0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 9 

terested in these articles are women who find house- 
keeping a severe and thankless task, which they, 
perhaps, have entered upon without preparation or 
experience, and believe that with more knowledge 
their task will be easier ; or the young woman Just 
going to keep house, who is determined to fit herself 
for the task. 

I am not hoping in these papers to say the last word 
on housekeeping. There will be oversights, and 
some short comings, possibly, that are not oversights, 
but caused by the exigencies of time and space. 
Nothing less than a book the size of Webster's Un- 
abridged could contain all the details of housekeep- 
ing. My hope is to tell in the Daily Programme, 
not only the order of work, but how that work is 
to be done ; how the best results are to be obtained 
with least labor, which is or should be, the essence of 
progress in housekeeping. Mrs. G-amp says '' there's 
hart in sticking in a pin," and, although many may 
not know it, there's art in scrubbing a floor or table 
so that the labor expended may tell. "Windows may 
be better cleaned in five minutes the right way, than 
in ten the wrong way, and so on through all the 
work ; the right way is the easiest way, and there is 
always a right way, although many may think that it 
comes naturally. I do not know of any book that 
gives methods of work ; it may be that my effort to 
do so will not be a success, but at least the effort will 
be an earnest one. 

The plan I have adopted to avoid repetition, as one 
day's work before breakfast is the same as another, 



10 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

is to begin by giving the early morning work for 
one day, as a rule, varied by circumstances, for 
all other days, and so with all other work. I take 
up the work one day where it left off the day be- 
fore. What I call the "extra" work of the day, is 
the work that does not go on every day, as the fire 
lighting, cooking, and dish washing do. The 
" extra " work of washing, ironing, thorough sweep- 
ing, weekly scrubbing and polishing, I shall give day 
by day, with directions for doing them and such rec- 
ipes as pertain to the subject, until all that I can 
explain is explained ; more particularly shall I try to 
supply any missing links there may be between books 
already published and the reader. I am aware that 
I shall tell some well known facts, and that many of 
my readers will say, " surely, every school girl knows 
how to make a fire ;" yet it is astonishing how many 
young married women there are, who do not know 
very simple things. How should they know, so many 
of them just leave boarding school to pass a few gay 
months and then marry ? One of these may say with 
equal impatience, " But how am I to make a fire ? 
Mine never burns." I want to leave no margin for 
what any one knows or ought to know, and I hope the 
more experienced will pardon what is to them a thrice 
told tale. 

No one can lay down rules that will fit every case ; 
the utmost that can be done is to prescribe a course 
that would seem to meet the needs of the majority. 
The order of work may differ where a woman has 
to be her own cook and house maid, as well as mother 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 11 

and wife ; she, less fortunate than the maid, who 
finds the whole work of a house so hard, cannot 
pursue the "even tenor of her way,^' going un- 
interruptedly from task to task, but is subject to 
every kind of interruption. She, therefore, that she 
may be able to be mother and wife and hostess, may 
find it well to reverse the usual order of work, and 
instead, we'll say of washing the breakfast dishes and 
putting them away and seeing the kitchen in order 
before leaving it, she may find it necessary to leave 
that till the sitting-room is dusted and the front of 
the house and bed-rooms arranged, because while she 
washes the dishes she can watch the bread or cake 
baking, or the dinner. 

Every woman who has no assistance in her work 
should so arrange it, that it will be easiest for her- 
self, and give thought to this end, and not to do things 
because "my mother, or Mrs. So and so," did them 
that way. In this rapid country of ours, things change 
every day, and there are a hundred labor-saving ar- 
rangements, to-day, for one that our mothers had. 
Avail yourself of every one, even if it only gives you 
more time to rest. Don't stand rubbing vegetables 
or fruit through a colander when there is a machine 
that will do it better in a quarter of the time. Twenty 
dollars (less than two months wages) spent in labor- 
saving articles, will be worth a hundred in health and 
strength. I do not mean, of course, that you are to 
encumber your kitchen with all the impossible patent 
articles that appear for a season and then go to swell 
the limbo of useless inventions, but when a two dollar 



12 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

chopping machine will chop hash, or steak, or sausage 
in five minutes better than you can in twenty, it is 
worth while to get it. The sweeping machine is a 
most useful article, not for thorough sweeping, but 
for the daily brushing up necessary in dining and 
sitting-room. 

Of these, and such as these, avail yourself to the 
extent of your power. I can address myself directly 
only to one type of household in these papers. I 
take the one most frequently met with in this coun- 
try, — the small family of four or five, with one ser- 
vant or none, although, indirectly, I shall try to give 
some useful information to other classes, even to that 
class who, since they keep house for others, should 
need it least — boarding-house keepers. 



CHAPTER II. 

OEDEB OF WOBK FOB MONDAY — WITH SOME rNSTEXTCTIONS 
GOOD FOE EVEEY DAY IN THE WEEK. 

IT is generally assumed that housekeeping comes 
naturally to women, that the girl who has been 
all her life so busy acquiring (or imparting) edu- 
cation and accomplishments that she has had no 
chance of learning her mother's ways — will, when she 
finds herself in her own house, know exactly what to 
do as by inspiration. Who will ever know the be- 
wildered efforts, the failures, the tears, and we will 
hope, the laughter, that have ushered in the ex- 
perience of many young wives. But as we must 
take things as they are, not as they ought to be, 
and young women will still marry and trust to in- 
spiration, I will say the next best thing to having had 
actual experience, is to have a theory of housekeep- 
ing. Read all you can find on that subject and kindred 
subjects, and think the matter out, that is to say 
form some plan, not too ambitious, and then try 
to carry it out as nearly as comfort will permit. 

Your plan perhaps may be something such as I 
shall indicate in these papers, but it may happen, 
that you will not find it quite suit your circumstan- 
ces ; then adapt it. Do not of all things have any 
cast iron rules, which must be carried out. Let even 



14 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

the sacred washing day go by, if it interferes with 
your own or your family's comfort. At the same 
time the regular order of work should not be lightly 
or capriciously changed, unless you would hare your 
house always in disorder, your time consumed, and 
your family uncomfortable. 
A yery good order of work is : 

Monday/, washing. 
Tuesday, ironing. 
Wednesday, mending. 
Thursday, cleaning silver, preserving, etc. 
Friday, sweeping, and window cleaning. 
Saturday, thorough cleaning of kitchen closets, 
cellar, etc., baking, etc. 

Some housekeepers prefer to have washing done on 
Tuesday, thus securing Monday for a general brush- 
ing up and putting away after Sunday. If there are 
several children, or if you live in the country, and 
have city visitors from Saturday to Monday, you will 
find this free Monday a great boon. For although 
thorough sweeping once a week will allow no accu- 
mulation of dust in rooms that do not require it 
daily, if you have rugs and dark floors, they will look 
very much brighter and fresher for washing up on 
Monday morning, which if the washing is on hand 
there will be less chance of doing. Another case in 
which Tuesday for washing is an advantage, is when 
your servant is so slow or careless that she will let 
it hang on hand, unless pressure of other work hast- 
ens her. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 15 

Some one will say just here, *' But if you are a good 
housekeeper, will you allow that ?" 

I answer, '' That would depend on circumstances/' 

In the present condition of things in this country 
we cannot hope for servants that are entirely satisfac- 
tory, and if I had one who suited me in many ways, 
yet who was incorrigible on that one point, I should 
think very seriously whether I could better put up with 
that fault than some others ; the pros and cons would 
have to be carefully weighed (and there will always 
be cons). But we must guard against another error. 
While avoiding a hasty dismissal of a fairly good 
servant for one or two faults, be careful not to retain 
one whose virtues and faults are so equally divided that 
she wears out your nerves and patience. You are bet- 
ter without assistance at all. Yet some of us do " put 
up with the ills we know, rather than rush into those 
we know not," and it is only when we have made the 
break, and parted with our " half treasure " we realize 
what an incubus is removed, how foolish we were. 

To return to the Monday question. There are some 
serious objections to the free Monday. In the first 
place, servants almost invariably object to Tuesday 
washing and although you may, and would if you 
had good reason, insist on setting the day, independ- 
ent of custom, should it happen that Tuesday is wet, 
the ironing is thrown late in the week and interferes 
with other work. Another drawback is, that then 
you have not Wednesday, which is the day on which 
any extra work can well be done — preserving, trying 
experiments in cooking, or doing any of the things 



16 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

that on busy days there is no time for. Where the 
house is small, all the sweeping can be done on Fri- 
day, and Thursday is then also an off day, but very 
often it is better to divide the sweeping, doing part 
on Thursday. For the purpose of this article, I will 
suppose that you are a novice in housekeeping and 
have a new servant and that it is Monday or " wash- 
ing morning." 

Before beginning the day's work it may be well to 
say that if you have been wise, you have arranged 
for an easily cooked breakfast. For instance, in win- 
ter substitute some quickly made hot bread — if it is 
necessary in your family — for hot cakes which take 
time to bake, in cold weather when mornings are 
shortest and food keeps well, a nice hash or stew or 
some scolloped fish can be prepared ready on Satur- 
day, and will need only heating over. In summer it 
might be a rule to have Scotch eggs, or eggs poached 
on toast, with fruit, and oatmeal or mush on Mondays. 

If the washing is large most housekeepers find it 
best, if they have only one servant, unless circum- 
stances interfere, to give some assistance on Monday 
morning and will wash up the breakfast china and put 
it away, arrange the bedrooms, etc., but where the 
family is small and no such assistance is given, the 
breakfast things should nevertheless be washed and 
put away at once, not, as Delia loves to do — left on 
the kitchen table until the washing is on the line. 
Delia's argument is specious, she does not want to 
stop in her wash, she wants to get through, and, she 
is right so far, but if the family is small, the few 



PROGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING, 17 

dishes will not take ten minutes, and that ten min- 
utes will be more than made up by the pleasure of 
working with clear table, and a clear mind. The 
same thing applies to the kitchen. Make it a rule 
that the kitchen be swept every mornifig before break- 
fast, and mats and carpets shaken. Too often on 
washing day everything that can be left is left, till 
the wash is over and the whole morning the kitchen 
(supposing you have no laundry) is kept untidy, and 
Delia herself although she doesn't understand the 
fact, is influenced by the state of things. She hurries 
to "get through," and the unkempt look makes her 
feel that she has a mountain of work ahead of her. 
While if she had spent ten minutes before breakfast 
in sweeping and ten after in clearing up, she would 
work at ease, and washing day would not be dreaded 
so much. 

For Delia's sake and your own then, begin this first 
day that she is with you, and make her understand 
that although it is Monday you require the usual 
work to be done. Of course your judgment will tell 
you if such requirement is unreasonable. If there is a 
large wash, of course she should be allowed to get at 
it as early as possible, but in that case, it should be 
you who would do what she cannot do. 

Any such innovation required from Delia, after she 
has settled down with you will be resisted, declared 
impossible, etc., therefore begin gently but firmly as 
you mean to continue. Do this in all things. There 
is no greater mistake in housekeeping than to make 
things smooth at first, witli the idea of conciliating 



18 PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

Delia's opinion. When she learns afterwards what 
is really required, although it may be modest enough, 
she will feel imposed upon ; she will see, too, that you 
deprecate her discontent and unless she is very ex- 
ceptional will take advantage of that fact. 

Now we will return to Monday morning. Six 
o'clock is a good hour for Delia to leave her room in 
winter, any earlier hour is not advisable evenoa Mon- 
day, but in spring and summer five o'clock is not too 
early on that day, that the water may be hot, and all 
ready to begin washing in good time. She must be 
told to throw open her bed and open the window of 
her room top and bottom before leaving it. Also to 
go into parlor and dining room at once and in winter 
to open an inch or two of the top and bottom of one 
window in each room, to throw open shutters, draw 
up shades, open draft of stove, close dampers and 
shake it down. This be/ore she lights her kitchen 
fire, as the rooms will air and the fire draw up mean- 
while. 

MAN-AGEMEHT OF STOYES. 

If the fire in a stove has plenty of fresh coals on 
top, not yet burnt through, it will need only a little 
shaking to start it up. But if the fire looks dying 
and the coals look white, don't shake it. When it 
has drawn till it is red again, if there is much ash 
and little fire, put coals on very carefully, A mere 
handful uf fire can be coaxed back to life by adding 
another handful or so of 7iew coals on the red spot, 
and giving plenty of draught, iut don't shaJce a dying 
fire^ or you lose it. This management is often neces- 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 19 

sary after a warm spell, -when the stove has been kept 
dormant for days, and though I mention it this Mon- 
day morning, when I ought to be talking of other 
things, I hope you will not be so unfortunate as to 
have a fire to coax up on a cold winter morning. They 
should be arranged over night, so that all that is re- 
quired is to open the draughts in order to have a 
cheery glow in a few minutes. This night work will 
be explained elsewhere. 

THE KITCHEN" FIEE. 

In pursuance of my intention to leave no margin 
for what you may or may not know, we will begin 
with building the kitchen fire. For, although your 
maid 7naj/ know how to get a mass of ignited coal in 
the stove, she may be far from knowing how to build 
a fire that will burn up brightly and quicTcly, which 
has a great deal to do with getting to work easily and 
successfully. 

The average servant will assure you she knows how 
to make the fire, and she will almost certainly make 
it her own way, notwithstanding any directions you 
may give her. The first morning a new servant comes 
to you, rise with her. You need not wound her 
amour propre by assuming that she does not know her 
work. You may have chanced on a really competent 
woman, when, by all means, let well alone ; but there 
will be every reason for you to go down with her to 
the kitchen, to show the places of things, and if you 
have learned to make the fire yourself in the follow- 
ing way, and know the reasons for it being the best, 



30 PEOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

you will, perhaps, by explaining these reasons, as you 
go on, be able to convince her. I doubt the ductility 
of her convictions, but if she is a girl worth keeping, 
she will at least consent to follow "your way," if it has 
been shown to her. Should she happily show such 
general intelligence about the fire as to make your 
interference needless, think yourself lucky, and store 
up your knowledge for another time. 

All imnecessary interference with a servant's mode 
of work is to le avoided; always give her an opportu- 
nity for using lohat knowledge she has. 

Perhaps it will help the entirely inexperienced 
housewife if I describe the wrong way to make a fire, 
or rather one of the several wrong ways. 

The ashes from yesterday's fire are dumped without 
any precaution to avoid dust, the grate returned to 
its place, covers removed and, while the clouds of 
ashes belch forth into the kitchen, a quantity of paper 
is put in, and then a quantity of sticks ; perhaps the 
first dozen are laid in straight, one on the other, flat 
on the paper, the rest tumbled in any how. Now that 
first layer of wood is pressing on the paper, and as 
entirely preventing any draught as if the wood were 
one thick stick. If the fire so built lights at all, it 
will be from the paper round the sides catching some 
of the smaller pieces of wood that were thrown on 
pell-mell. But this fire will light slowly, for you 
must remember there is always that mass at the bot- 
tom, preventing the draught from beneath, which will 
not itself ignite until the fire around is well es- 
tablished. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 21 

If, for experiment, you were to put out the slow 
flames, and take that fire apart, you would find a mass 
of paper at the bottom, burned all round to the very 
edge of the wood pressing on it, but where the wood 
has rested it will not even be discolored ; the wood 
will only be smoked outside and charred at the edges. 
Unless you are very enthusiastic you will not do this, 
and we are supposing that you do not do this, and 
that the upper pieces of wood have caught, as they 
may do if very dry. The average fire maker will now 
throw on heavily, from the scuttle, a quantity of coals, 
— perhaps fill up the stove. The flames are half 
quenched, the wood not sufficiently burned to make a 
foundation of glowing embers, may struggle to retain 
life, but that fire will not heat water for an hour ; the 
stove will be cool enough to put your hand on it for 
some time after you have put on the coals. 

Now if the fire is made in the right way the result 
will be very different. 

THE EIGHT WAT TO BUILD A FIEE. 

Eemove the covers, brush all the dust and ashes 
from the inside top of the stove into the grate, re- 
place the covers, close all the draughts, and, if yor,r 
range has a dust valve, open it. Then gently dump 
the contents of the grate, and wait a few seconds to let 
the dust subside. Put shavings or plenty of crumpled- 
up newspaper (never use folded paper or pamphlets 
unless they are torn asunder and crumpled singly) 
into the grate. Then lay on the paper some light sticks, 
crossiiig them, letting some rest against the side of the 



22 PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

grate to support tlie others, so that they do not press 
on the paper. Use sufficient wood. There is no 
economy in stinting it, yet, where it has to be bought 
for kindling, there must be no waste. Much depends 
on the kind of wood, but as a rule you let the wood 
come to the tops of the bricks. Then light the 
paper, having first opened the draughts. While the 
wood kindles, put on the washboiler (unless you 
have hot water attachments) and fill the water tank, 
if it is not self-filling. Einse out the kettle, fill 
it with fresh water and set it on the stove. When 
the wood is well burnt up, — not when the flames 
are merely licking the outside of the sticks, but 
when you have a good wood fire, — throw on, gently, 
only enough coals to just cover the wood. Your 
range will be hot all over from the wood fire. Put- 
ting on only a few coals at a time will not check 
it much, while your kettle, oven, and water, are all 
getting hot. 

The wrong way, as I have said, is to pour on nearly 
a scuttleful of coals at first, smothering the wood, 
and this will take a long time to burn up, while the 
fire made as I have directed is a good fire from the 
leginni7ig. The few coals leave room for a fierce 
draught, and your oven will be ready for baking in a 
very few minutes. While these few coals are burning 
up, take away the ashes and sift them. If you have 
a covered sifter fixed on a barrel it will not be five 
minutes work to do it at once. The cinders should 
be put right from the sifter into a scuttle and carried 
back to the kitchen, to be used during the day. Then 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 23 

if the coals are nearly burned through throw on more, 
not many. 

After the ashes are taken up, brush them off the 
range neatly into a dustpan, then quickly go over it 
■with a blacklead brush, or a cloth kept for the pur- 
pose. Once a week it needs thorough blacking. 

If it is winter there will be fires in other rooms to 
attend to. As the draughts were regulated when you 
first came down, they will now be ready for coals or 
further shaking down. If there is a carpet under the 
etove, lay a newspaper down and take up the ashes 
quickly and neatly, brush off the stove as you did the 
kitchen range, always keeping a separate brush for 
the kitchen. 

This business of lighting fire, taking up ashes and 
sifting them need only take a very short time in the 
doing. A bright girl will see that while the fire is 
burning up, she can get the ashes from the kitchen 
taken up, and when the coal is first put on, before the 
stove gets too hot, she will go over it with brush and 
rag, fitting one piece of work into the other; so that 
she will have no minutes of waiting. When the fires 
are attended to, she will perhaps need to put on oat- 
meal or mush, for which the water will now be boil- 
ing ; or prepare anything for breakfast which will re- 
quire long cooking; then she will sweep the kitchen 
and piazzas, shaking mats, etc. If briskly done, a 
quarter of an hour will suffice, for the last. If it is 
winter the lighting fire, attending to stove, and tak- 
ing up ashes, etc., may take half an hour. We will 
assume, then, that it is a quarter to seven, your fire 



34 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

bright, mnsli or oatmeal on the fire, and kitchen and 
piazzas swept. If you have breakfast at half-past 
seven, whether there will be time to go into the parlor 
and set that in order, will depend on the kind of 
breakfast ; but the dining-room must always be neat. 
If kept so regularly, five minutes will dust it and re- 
move anything that should not be in it, before laying 
the cloth, which now do carefully. 

At seven, make any quick biscuit. (I am supposing 
you have an easy breakfast, as it is washing morning.) 
Put them in the oven, grind the coffee, set the milk 
to get hot at back of the stove, so that you can bring 
it forward the last thing and let it boil. If you put 
it in a very hot spot at first you must watch it or it will 
boil over, and sometimes be in danger of scorching. 
If you have potatoes to warm over, do them now ; if 
not, you should have put some in the oven when you 
put the mush to cook. Half an hour to forty min- 
utes will bake them. Now make the coffee and poach 
or boil eggs, or broil the ham, and serve breakfast. 
Let me here say that coffee should never be made 
until the last thing ; it loses fragrance by standing, 
yet it is quite a common practice to make the coffee 
when the mush is put on to cook. 

While the family is at breakfast the soiled water 
may be brought down stairs, and then the clothes be 
sorted for the wash, unless this has been done the day 
before. 

I am aware many will say on washing morning I 
have indicated too many things to do ; that surely the 
piazza might be left unswept, or the dining-room un- 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 25 

dusted, the slops unemptied, — at least till the first 
boilerful of clothes was on the fire, — but, after long 
experience and trial of the several ways, I do not 
think much time is actually gained by leaving these 
trifles, and, as I have before pointed out, the feeling 
of comfort with which the work is done amply re- 
pays the lost time. If the few things that add so 
much to the family comfort are neglected through the 
morning, in order to get to the washing, you will not 
save half an hour ; that is to say, your clothes may 
not be out to dry till half an hour later ; if the wash 
is small, this will matter little ; if large, one pair of 
hands probably will not be depended upon for all. 
Where there is a servant, if one thing is allowed to 
be neglected because it is washing morning, every- 
thing will gradually be expected to yield to the same 
necessity, and even the ashes not taken up, or any 
but the kitchen fire regulated. 

Where the familj is more than two the dusting and 
bed making should certainly be done by some member 
of the family on washing day, but while avoiding all 
extra work on that day, and planning to have easily 
cooked meals, do not run, as many women do into the 
other extreme, and allow Monday to be a day of gen- 
eral discomfort and hurry skurry ; with cold meat and 
hasty service at meals ; there is no reason for it. In 
the same household I have known a capable servant to 
manage her work so that the washing made no differ- 
ence to any one's comfort, and she who did it was 
neat, and unhurried ; everything went on Monday as 
any other day, and her ironing was up stairs as soon 



»D PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

as that of the wild, hurrying, panting girls, for whom 
Monday had seemed a day of slavery, who had pre- 
ceded and who followed her. 

Where no servant is kept, and a woman is called in 
to do washing, the housewife will find no advantage 
in leaving any of the usual work necessary to the 
comfort of the family undone. Care should be taken 
however, that the top of the range is left as free as 
possible and the oven used so far as may be for cook- 
ing the dinner. 

PROGRAMME OF WORK. 

Under this head will be given with each instalment 
the special work for the day, and ways of doing it 
told briefly for hasty reference with fuller explana- 
tion of methods and reasons for them in " Progres- 
sive Housekeeping." This does not imply that the 
one is merely an enlargement or repetition of the 
other. As all women of experience know, recipes or 
methods of work should be as direct and little com- 
plicated as possible with outside details, if they are 
to be easily grasped by the tyro. And yet the woman 
who knows the why and wherefore of her work will 
do it intelligently and successfully ; while if she does 
not know the reasons for working in a certain way, 
that way may seem very new fangled or unneces- 
sary. To avoid, however, the useless and wearisome 
repetition of giving with each part the work that 
is daily required in every house, it is given once for 
all under the head of '^general early morning work 
for every winter day." The special work for each 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 37 

day of the week will be given, each with its own 
instalment. 

EARLY MORKING WORK FOR EVERT WINTER DAT. 

On coming down in the morning, raise shades in 
all rooms, open blinds, close dampers, and open the 
draughts in all stoves. If the fires are bright and 
good put on coal ; if dull, wait until they brighten 
before either shaking them or adding fuel. 

Make kitchen fire ; (See full directions in Chapter 
I) rinse and fill the kettle, boiler, etc. 

Take up ashes ; sweep kitchen and corridors — beat- 
ing all mats. 

If the fires have now come up in other rooms, open 
one window an inch or two — top and bottom, then 
put on coals, shake the ashes out (unless there is very 
little fire in the stove, when it will be wise to put on 
only a small quantity of coal at first, and do not dis- 
turb by shaking until the fresh coal has taken fire). 

Take up ashes, brush the stoves neatly. If you 
have no time to blacken them, rub them over with a 
rag to remove the white, dusty look the ashes leave. 

If the morning is very cold do not leave the win- 
dows open many minutes ; ten will renew the air. 

When the kitchen fire has burned up, place near it 
any buckwhat cakes or risen biscuit you may want 
for breakfast ; bake potatoes, make corn bread, or in 
short, prepare whatever will take longest to cook. 

Grind coffee, lay the cloth for breakfast, assure 
yourself that fires are progressing well, close draughts 
of those sufficiently hot, open dampers if needful. 



28 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

After breakfast, clear the table and brush up crumbs 
if necessary. 

Wash breakfast dishes and put them away, setting 
aside steel knives after they are washed, to clean in 
the following way : 

TO CLEAN- STEEL KNIVES. 

Have a smooth piece of board and bath brick. Eub 
the brick on the board which is better than to scrape 
it with a knife ; the rubbing grinds the brick easily 
and quickly into fine powder. Now, hold the knife 
firmly by the haft and rub it swiftly from one end of 
the board to the other, (not as is usually done by 
pushing it to and from you). There is some art in 
cleaning knives in this way, but once you are used to 
it, you will be well repaid by the fact that they have 
always a brilliant polish like a new knife, and are 
always sharp. The first time knives are so cleaned 
they may take some time before you get the same de- 
gree of brightness all over. Freeing them from all 
stain first with sapolio will help ; then the blade must 
be held lightly but evenly on the board. There is no 
hard labor about it, only an easy swinging of the arm 
back and forth. After once cleaning in this way, if 
done every day, there will be no further trouble. 
When the knives are brilliant and without any dark 
shadows, dust them with a dry duster (do not wash 
them) taking care to free the handles from every trace 
of brick dust. 

Now, proceed to bedroom work. If the morning 
is very cold, and the windows have been open an inch 



PROGBESSIVU HOUSEKEEPING. 39 

or two, top and bottom, since the occupant left the 
room, with mattress turned back and pillows airing, 
they may now be closed^ unless there is a stove in the 
room, where they should be left open as much as pos- 
sible except in the severest weather. Remove soiled 
water, wash soap dish, fold towels — changing when 
necessary, then make up the bed. If a stove is in the 
room, it should receive attention, ashes being removed 
and the whole dusted before the general work of the 
room is begun. If in consequence of a fire the win- 
dows are left open, close the door of the room on 
leaving it that the cool air may be confined to that 
one room. The chamber work over and stairs swept 
down, trim, clean, and fill lamps, and then proceed 
to the special work for the day. 



CHAPTEE III. 

1HAVE spoken of making some quick biscuit for 
breakfast. I have not given the recipe, nor do 
I think it will be necessary to give many cooking 
recipes in this series of papers. The chances are that 
you have a good cookery book, if not, it will be wise 
to get one, but here let me say a word : There are 
four or five excellent and reliable books in the mar- 
ket, the names of whose writers are guarantee of their 
excellence, and they are worth everything to a young 
housekeeper, because you may be quite sure if you 
fail with one of these recipes, you have but to try 
again, the fault will be yours, not that of the writer; 
but if you take one of the dozens of fugitive recipes, 
that are scattered through newspapers, the chances 
are that you will meet with vexation and disappoint- 
ment; an experienced cook might make some use of 
them, for she would see at a glance wherein they 
lacked, the vague and sometimes wrong directions 
would be supplemented by her own knowledge of 
what must be right, but it is very seldom that anything 
is published in this irresponsible way which cannot 
be found precisely and correctly given in a standard 
work. In the same way, in buying a cookery book, 
do not be beguiled by a cheap compilation from some 
obscure publishing house, which is generally made up 
of the newspaper recipes before alluded to. Of course. 



PBOGBJSSSIVI] HOUSEKEEPING. 31 

in speaking of newspaper recipes, I do not mean those 
written expressly for them by the best qualified women 
in the country. These and the recipes which appear 
in Good Housekeeping, of course, have the gurantee 
of the author's name, and anything not perfectly 
clear can be enquired for. But, although I do not 
intend to give recipes in this series, which would 
swell it beyond due limits, I do intend to say, on the 
subject of cooking, that which may make it more 
easy to manage. 

The best plan in small, plain families, for a Mon- 
day dinner, is so to provide that there will be cold 
meat to warm over, and the warming over need not 
necessarily be hash or stew. If care is taken not to 
over cook a roast on Sunday, and it is carved fairly 
and evenly (and by all means learn enough of the art of 
carving to compass this), lay it flat on a drippingpan, 
cover it well with dripping from the day before, not 
the gravy; keep that to warm separately, and put it in 
a very hot oven at a quarter past twelve o'clock for a 
one o'clock meal ; at half past, put potatoes to boil, and 
a few minutes later, peas, beans, asparagus, cauliflower 
or cabbage. Always put any fresh vegetable in boil- 
ing water. Beets or carrots should be put on to boil 
at twelve and turnips at a quarter past. If you make 
it understood in your kitchen that vegetables take a 
certain time, make that time known and insist on it 
being remembered, there will be fewer spoiled vege- 
tables. Also remember that the vegetables are to be 
ruled by the meat. Take pains to understand your 
oven, and you will soon learn how long the sized piece 



33 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

of meat required by your family will take to roast, 
then let the vegetables be cooked according to the 
following table: 

TIME TABLE FOE BOILING VEGETABLES. 

V^ Potatoes, half an hour, unless small, when rather 
less. 

Peas and asparagus twenty to twenty-five minutes. 

Cabbage and cauliflower, twenty-five minutes to 
half an hour. 

String beans, if slit or sliced slantwise and thin, 
twenty-five minutes; if only snapped across, forty 
minutes. 

Green corn, twenty to twenty-five minutes. 

Lima beans, if very young, half an hour, old, forty 
to forty-five minutes. 

Carrots and turnips, forty-five minutes when young, 
one hour to one and a half in winter. 

Beets, one hour in summer, one hour and half, or 
two hours, in winter. Very large ones take four 
hours. 

Onions, medium size, one hour. 

Rule. — AH vegetables to go into fast boiling water 
to be quicTcly brouglit to the boiling point again, not 
left to steep in the hot water before boiling which 
tuilts them and destroys color and flavor. 

This time table must ahvays be regulated by the 
hour at which the meat will be done. If the meat 
should have to wait five minutes for the vegetables, 
there will be a loss of punctuality, but the dinner will 
not be damaged ; but if the vegetables are done, and 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 33 

wait for the meat, your dinner will certainly be much 
the worse, yet so general is the custom of over-boiling 
vegetables or putting them to cook in a haphazard 
way, somewhere aioict the time, that very many peo- 
ple would not recognize the damage; they would very 
quickly see the superiority of vegetables just cooked 
the right time, but would attribute it to some superior- 
ity in the article itself, that they were fresher, and 
finer, not knowing that the finest and freshest, im- 
properly cooked, are little better than the poor ones. 

I am led to dwell on this point of vegetable cook- 
ing, because it is so general to find them spoiled, 
when all else is well cooked. How many of us will 
recognize the familiar reply of unpunctual servants, 
when asked why dinner is not served, ** The vegeta- 
bles were all done, but not the meat/' 

I repeat, the meat must be the standard, and that 
it may be so, and dinner not a movable feast, always 
see that the oven and fire are arranged for baking one 
hour before your meat is to go in; meat put into a 
cool oven is never well cooked and, in summer, quite 
spoiled. 

Perhaps I should say, in this connection, that after 
breakfast the fire should be made up, — that is, coals 
thrown on as far as the top of the bricks, not higher, 
or it will choke, the draughts closed, and then it can 
be left until, say eleven, for a one o'clock meal (un- 
less a large joint is to be cooked, when as much ear- 
lier as necessary). At eleven, or earlier, rake the 
ashes out, open the draughts, and see that everything 
is favorable to making a hot fire ; when nearly red 



34 PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

at the top, showing the coals have all burned through, 
shut off some part of the draught, so that the fire 
may not exhaust itself by drawing up the chimney. 
Should it have become a fiercely glowing mass almost 
at white heat, the coals are almost exhausted already, 
the draughts have been open too long. Sprinkle on 
a thin layer of coals, just to cover the red; it will not 
check the oven, but simply give something to burn 
on, otherwise having once attained the white heat 
point, it would begin to die off just as you need its 
strength. 

If the fire is required for ironing, or other purposes, 
be careful to put on a few coals before you leave the 
kitchen after cooking dinner and leave it solid for the 
afternoon, but on days when no fire is required until 
the tea, burn up all the garbage from the vegetables. 
Potato peelings, pea shucks, etc., burn splendidly if 
put on a hot fire. Put no coals over them, or they 
will choke and smother, open all draughts so that the 
odor may go up the chimney, and after dinner they 
will be consumed and leave a glowing mass of embers, 
on which you throw a few coals or cinders and close 
up the stove as you did after breakfast. 

I have dwelt very long on the management of the 
kitchen fire, knowing how very much easy house- 
keeping depends on it, and how few servants under- 
stand it, and how unlikely the inexperienced house- 
keeper, to whom these papers may be chiefly useful, 
is to do so. 

I will say here a few words about washing, although 
the directions will be fully given in the programme 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 35 

of work. In addition to those directions I would say 
that they are given for those who have no such ad- 
vantages as stationary tubs, washing machines, etc., 
although, of course, the facts hold good where you 
have them. See that everything is as convenient as 
possible for the worker; the wash bench suited to a 
short woman will try the back of a tall one, yet I 
have known such a one quite unable to arrange any- 
thing better for herself. A box or board will often 
make the difference necessary. See that the wash- 
board is not worn, or it will tear clothes and hands. 

There are various ways of washing. Many soak 
clothes over night, others think if the extra time it 
takes to soak them and to wring them out be con- 
sidered, that there is no gain. I am inclined to agree 
with this view unless the clothes are much soiled. 
You will please yourself which method you adopt, 
also as to whether you will put a tablespoonful of 
borax into the tub or one of turpentine, or simply rub 
soap on the soiled parts. The thing there is no choice 
about, is the proper sorting of clothes, this and abund- 
ance of water is the secret of the pearly clearness that 
distinguishes some laundry work. After separating 
flannels and colored things, put handkerchiefs, col- 
lars, and all the finer articles by themselves, also table 
cloths and napkins, sheets, pillow cases, etc. 

About the making of starch there are so many 
opinions that I can but give the methods, and let each 
try for herself. Some experienced women say there 
is no necessity for boiling the starch, but that it should 
be made like cocoa; that is, a small quantity should 



36 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

be wetted in as little cold water as will make a thin, 
smooth paste, then pour on it, slowly, actually boiling 
water — stirring all the time — till there are no white 
streaks or any cloudiness in it; it will be thick and 
clear, and the absence of white shows that the boiling 
water has cooked all the starch. I have seen excellent 
laundry work in which the starch has been made thus. 
The more usual way is to make the starch in the same 
way, pour boiling water on it till it thickens, and then 
set it on the range to boil. Some say it should boil 
long, others very little. I only know, that for the 
most beautiful ironing I ever saw, the starch was 
always boiled a very long time, an hour or so, some- 
times more, till it fell from the spoon like clear white 
syrup, and on asking the woman what caused the 
beautiful clearness of her nainsooks and lawns, the 
peculiar soft stiffness, which differed so much from 
the paper-like texture of any one else's work, if equally 
stiff: 

''It's just the boiling of the starch ma'am, and 
that causes all the sticking to the iron, and when it 
isn't half boiled the clothes muss as soon as you get 
them on." 

I had noticed that her clothes, beside looking so 
well, had the quality of not getting tumbled so soon. 
I, therefore, in my own house, adopt the method of 
boiling the starch very long. 

The laundress above alluded to, used nothing in 
the starch except for collars and thick materials, when 
she used borax, but she was a very expert and ex- 
perienced ironer. A teaspoonful of borax to half a 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 37 

gallon of boiled starch, is undoubtedly a help to the 
worker and helps the clothes to retain stiffness. A 
small piece of lard or wax is preferred by some, salt 
by others. The reason against using the latter, I 
think, is this: Salt, as is well known, attracts mois- 
ture, and in damp weather clothes so starched are 
more likely to get limp. "Well made starch helps the 
ironing immensely, yet nothing but practice will make 
a good ironer. 

Table linen should be very slightly starched. The 
starch through which all the fine things have passed 
may be further thinned and used for pillow cases and 
table linen. 

Another thing that helps the ironing is neat fold- 
ing and dose, fine sprinklmg. The clothes should be 
brought in from the line, then each piece sprinkled. 
For a few cents you can buy a sprinkler which will 
save the heavy splashes alternated with large dry 
spaces which results from inexperienced hand sprink- 
ling. You may fold each towel, and pillow case 
lengthwise, as you intend to iron it, or you may think 
it easier to lay several of each kind on the other, roll 
them up together and fold when you iron. Table- 
cloths or sheets require two persons when possible. 
They should be folded with great care in half from end 
to end, and then fold the half again in the same direc- 
tion. You have now folded it in four lengthwise. I 
mention this particularly, although I have no doubt 
most ladies know that they should be so folded, but I 
must remind my readers that I am allowing no mar- 
gin for what may be already known. 



38 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

If your irons have not been lately used, or if you 
find trouble in cleaning tbem, wash them thoroughly 
in soap and water with a brush; this should be done 
every two or three weeks, for irons get soiled by stand- 
ing on the range when in use and on the shelves when 
not, and although the face of them will look clean 
and bright, black specks fall from the upper part, or 
where pushed up into the gathers, there will often 
remain the mark of the "nose'^ of the iron. To 
wash them, let them get a little warm on the range, 
then put them in a dishpan of hot water and scrub 
them, setting them on the range to dry. 

The iron holder should be well made, comfortable 
to the hand, and have slip-covers of ticking, or linen, 
which can be slipped off and washed every week or so. 



PROGRABXmC OP ^WOR.K. 

SPECIAL V^OEK FOE MONDAY — WASHING. 

Have all ready before you begin to work. Sort the 
clothes, separating the shirts, collars and starched 
white things generally from the bed linen, towels and 
flannels, and separate these again from coarser things. 

Flannels. — The main thing with flannel is quick 
drying, and that they be ivashecl and rinsed in water 
of the same temperature very quickly, and not allowed 
to cool between. To accomplish this, wash one article 
at a time, putting it into warm soapy water. (Many 
good housekeepers say 7iO^ water, and if you have only 
one or two articles to wash that will do; but if you 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 39 

have several, they will chill and shrink before they 
get into the second water). 

Do not rub flannels on a board; the dirt so easily 
comes out of woolen goods that it is needless, and 
ruins the texture; wash them quickly and thoroughly 
through one water, wring them and wash them 
through a second water in which you may have a 
little bluing (for white ones); this second water must 
be the same temperature as the first; wring them, 
shake them well and hang them out immediately to 
dry. 

Colored flannels must never be washed after white, 
or they will be covered when dry with lint. Flannels 
are best washed first, because they should have water 
for themselves; the second water from them will do 
nicely for the first of your white clothes. 

Wash the finer white things and so on until you come 
to the coarse. Put few pieces in the tub at a time so 
that you always have abundance of water, which if 
your tub is stuffed nearly full you cannot have. Drop 
them as you do them into a tub of warm water, wash 
them through that and put them in the boiler (soap 
ing all discolored parts) with plenty of cold water 
Let them come to the boiling point; they will be no 
whiter for long boiling. Take them out with a stout 
clothes stick, and drop them into clear water, wash 
thoroughly, turning each piece wrong side out, then 
wring them out of this (after you have put more 
clothes in the boiler) and put them into water made 
slightly blue, with ball bluing tied tightly in a piece 
of flannel. Wring them from the blue water after 



40 PB0GEES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

rinsing them thoroughly; hang out those pieces at 
once which are not to be starched. The others pass 
through hot starch, doing those first which require to 
be most stiff. Shake them well after they are wrung 
out, and hang to dry. 

The water through which you passed the clothes 
from the boiler will do for the colored things, as it 
will only be soapy, not soiled. Many keep the flan- 
nels and use this water to "first" them. 

Colored Clothes. — Delicate colors should be 
quickly washed in warm soapy water rinsed without 
bluing, and hung in the shade to dry. Many colors 
that stand the water will fade when drying under the 
Bun. 

To Set The Color Ijst Blue Lawn or Calico. — 
Dissolve three cents' worth of saltpetre in a pail of 
water and dip the articles in seyeral times before 

washing. 

To Set Akt Doubtful Colors. — Dissolve ten 
cents' worth of sugar of lead in two pails of water; 
soak the articles in it, then wash. 

I have an amendment to add, to both these recipes, 
which I give as they are written. I know the sugar 
of lead sets the color; even the tenderest blue will be 
safe, but, what sets the color will set dirt. Therefore 
grievous as it is to wet a lawn before wearing, soak 
it in the piece before it is made up. (Why does not 
the maker do this ?) 

I have given above the regulation method of wash- 
ing, but the boiling, especially in summer, is not 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 41 

necessary. By using a little borax in the water, which 
is quite harmless and will brighten most colors, and 
thorough washing and rinsing, the clothes will be 
even whiter without boiling, and much time and 
labor saved. Stains from perspiration should have 
soap rubbed on them and be laid in the hot sun. 

To Take Out Stains. — Every housekeeper should 
examine the table linen for fruit stains which will be- 
come fixed if they are put into suds. 

Place the stain over a bowl and pour loiling water 
through it from the kettle; it will remove it at once. 

To Take Out Iek and Iron Mould Without 
Chemicals. — Wet the spot with lemon juice, sprinkle 
it with salt, and lay it in the sun. You may need to 
repeat this two or three times. 

To Eemove Machine Oil Stains. — Before put- 
ting newly made clothes into the wash, look at the 
hems and tucks for oil stains; rub all spots or dark 
stitching with soap and cold water; it will come out 
very easily. If put into hot suds before this is done, 
it may be permanently stained. 

Articles requiring to be very stiff, should be starched 
twice, once with boiled starch after they are rinsed 
and before hanging to dry, and with raw starch when 
dry. 

To Make Starch. — Make the boiled starch with 
three tablespoonf uls of starch to a quart of water and 
half a teaspoonful of borax. 

When dry take in clothes, and if possible, iron the 
flannels at once; iron them on the wrong side with a 



42 PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

cool iron until quite dry. Sprinkle the clothes care- 
fully and fold them. (See remarks. ) 

Starch collars, cuffs, etc., again with raw starch. 

Be careful about folding shirts and night gowns 
after starching, as nothing is more disagreeable than 
patches of starch on parts where it is not intended 
to be. 

Fold shirt or gown lengthwise so that the two 
starched fronts come together, lay the wrist bands be- 
tween them, then roll up very tight, sprinkling the 
rest of the garment with water. 

Pack all the clothes closely in the basket, cover 
with a damp cloth and then a dry one until ready to 
iron. 



CHAPTER IV. 

BED-ROOM WORK, AND IRONING. 

IN small families, say of three persons, in fine dry- 
ing weather, the greater part of the ironing may 
be done on Monday, and should, even in a large 
one be finished on Tuesday. 

Space did not allow me, in speaking of the Monday 
routine, to give details of bed-room work. It is per- 
haps needless to say that, on leaving the room in the 
morning, the windows should be thrown open, top 
and bottom, the pillows put on the sill to air, and the 
sheets also. The mattress should be half turned over 
and left so until the bed is made up. In some very, 
very neat houses, especially in the country, the beds 
are made up very early. I have known the girls of a 
family to be brought up to make their beds before 
they leave the room. It looks neat and nice to leave 
a chamber in perfect order, but it is not a healthy 
custom. A bed requires at least an hour to air it. 
During the night exhalations from the skin pass into 
the bedclothes (I am afraid to say how much these 
exhalations weigh, according to science, but it is some- 
thing much larger than the unscientific mind can 
easily take in). If these bedclothes are thoroughly 
aired in the hot sun or wind, they pass out, but this 
cannot happen if the bed is made up again a few min- 



44 PBOGBESaiVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

utes after occupation, the mattress, in fact^ still warm 
from it. This so-called very neat and tidy habit of 
anti-breakfast bed-making is, therefore, an unclean 
one. For myself, in warm weather, I think the bed 
of an adult should be left a couple of hours before 
being made up. 

But I am not advocating the other uncomfortable 
extreme of leaving the beds unmade till late. The 
housekeeper who does her own work will find it best 
to bring down the water even before washing break- 
fast dishes or arranging the front of her house for 
the day, which, as I have pointed out, she may find 
it advisable to do, even before the necessary work in 
the kitchen, and after the breakfast is cleared and the 
dishes washed, the first thing should be the beds. 

The mattress should be turned over entirely, some- 
times, from head to foot, at others, from side to side, 
so as to vary the pressure and keep it even. There 
should be an " under blanket " to lay over the mat- 
tress, but there are some young housekeepers of limited 
means who may not have, in winter, blankets to spare 
for this purpose, but it saves the tick very much to 
have in its place an old soft quilt, or any other article 
that is easily aired. Physicians recommend the use 
of an old blanket, because it is woolen and both ab- 
sorbs perspiration without giving chill, and, also, 
being so porous, is more easily aired than cotton. The 
use of this extra cover to the mattress is twofold, — 
sanitary and economical; sanitary, because it is so 
much more easy to purify in the air than the mattress 
itself, and economical, because the tick of a mattress 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 45 

so treated will last twice the time, fresh and clean, 
than one only covered with a sheet will do. This 
first covering should be drawn smoothly over the 
mattress and tucked in under it; the under sheet, 
with the broad hem at the top, should come next, and 
should be large enough to admit of being firmly tucked 
round the mattress. Nothing is more unpleasant 
than to find, during the night, that the under sheet 
has slipped down and we are lying on the mattress. 

Bolster covers, although not really necessary where 
the sheets are very long and the bolster can be rolled 
in it, are yet a great convenience and assistance to 
neat bed making. The bolster of course, follows 
the sheet, is laid evenly upon it, and the superfluous 
fullness tucked smoothly under it. See to the foot 
of the bed first, tucking it all evenly along, so that it 
will not readily come out at night, using only enough 
of the sheet for the purpose; then lay your hand along 
the sheet below the bolster, lay the sheet smoothly 
over the latter, and take care that the whole is 
perfectly straight and the center fold in the middle 
of the bed; lay on the blanket and quilt, tuck all 
in neatly, but not too tightly; turn the sheet over 
.once about five inches, and then again making the 
fold very even and smooth. There are two or three 
modes of turning down the sheet, some preferring 
to leave it unturned, and to lay the pillow upon it. 
Let every one do as they please; the one thing 
necessary to good bed-making is that each article be 
laid on without wrinkles or folds, and well tucked in, 
the rest is a matter of taste. 



46 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

The pillows should be pressed flat from the center 
with both hands (after being well shaken).; this will 
make them stand up well. Although pillow and sheet 
shams add very much to the appearance of a bed, I 
confess I do not like them, simply because they are 
shams. I prefer the old-time ruffled pillow cases, the 
ruffle of lawn or nainsook all round, and simply 
ironed, not fluted, in the graceful, simple fashion of 
our grandmothers. 

The bed made, the room should be lightly brushed 
up if necessary (and for such bits as gather during a 
day, the sweeper is invaluable), dusted, set in order, 
and darkened during the heat of the day. The stairs 
and corridor should be brushed and then, perhaps, 
you will be ready to begin ironing, or finish what may 
have been left undone from yesterday. 

For making the fire for ironing, rake out all ashes 
and get it up by putting on coals and leaving draughts 
open. Take care not to overfill the fire-box, or it will 
choke. Many otherwise good laundresses, do not 
understand the fire ; that is, they are quite capable 
of making the fire up, and creating a fiery furnace 
for the time being, but before the ironing is finished 
the fire is down, irons " won't heat," and then the 
remedy is wood, and wood is either burned for the 
rest of the day, or the last things ironed are done in 
that miserable limp fashion that results from using 
half cold irons. 

The fire should be carefully kept up, which is very 
easily done without in the least checking the heat if, 
every hour or so, a li-ttle coal is added on one side. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 47 

The ironSj if necessary, may be shifted to the hot side 
until the other has burned through, and then the 
other may be likewise replenished. Care should be 
taken, also to keep the bottom free from ashes. The 
general rule among servants seems to be to make the 
fire as large and hot as possible at the beginning, and 
then to iron vigorously so long as it lasts; some 
who have not acquired the bad habit of trusting to 
wood to bring up the fire (one of the most incurable 
of bad kitchen habits I have found it to be), and 
do somewhat better than the average, will yet iron 
till the fire goes down, then put on a quantity 
of coal, and while it is burning up leave the ironing 
till the irons are again hot. This is not so bad as 
using the fire without replenishing till past redemp- 
tion, but it is far better not to let it go down at 
all. The cause of the mistake is the false idea that 
adding coals will check the fire. It will do so, if 
you wait till it is getting jDOor, but a few coals put 
on to a fierce fire from time to time, will make little 
difference. 

This matter of thoroughly understanding the 
kitchen fire may be thought to occupy undue space 
in these papers, but the whole comfort of the house 
may be said to hinge on it. This may seem an ex- 
treme thing to say, but every housekeeper knows what 
a difference there is in the kitchen fire that is always 
ready, and the one that is always ?mready. The latter 
always " has just got fresh coal on," or ''was good a 
quarter of an hour ago," — in short, is never hot when 
wanted and always so when there is no need of it. In 



48 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

the first case there is always hot water, a hot iron at 
five minutes' notice, a cup of hastily made tea for a 
visitor, or an extra dish can be improvised, — in short, 
that fire is always ready for the emergency, the other 
never is, and failures, lack of patience, fatigue and 
general mild misery are the result. 

For general work of each day see programme 
No. 1. 

SPECIAL WORK FOR TUESDAY — IRONING. 

Although, when the washing is small, part of the 
ironing may be done on Monday in good weather, 
yet, in a large majority of cases, it is Tuesday's work, 
and so we will treat it now. 

The fire for ironing should be made up directly 
after breakfast, the stove being rubbed off Avith 
paper if it has become soiled with cooking the break- 
fast and irons set on to heat while the dishes are 
washed and bed-room work is being done. 

Ironing is such clean work that either mistress or 
maid might put on their usual afternoon dress instead 
of remaining in working dress. 

To Iron Shirts. — Iron the entire shirt first, then 
pass a cloth wrung from cold water over the bosom, 
lay under it a bosom board, draw the linen perfectly 
straight and take care to leave no wrinkles; if you 
iron them in, you have to moisten the spot and it 
rarely looks well after. Be careful to raise any plaits 
there may be with your iron, so that it does not re- 
main plastered to the under surface; and, above all 
things, iron until it is dry. 



PEOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 49 

This ironing eacli article until it is dry is very im- 
portant, as it gives that smooth, crisp feeling to linen 
which shows the difference between good and bad 
ironing. If any article is put to air while damp it 
will dry rough. 

PoLiSHiJSTG. — Polishing shirt bosoms and collars 
has gone out of use now very much, but if any 
one wishes to produce a glazed surface, all they 
have to do is to use a polishing iron and main 
strength. 

Iron flannels on the wrong side, with an iron that 
barely sizzles under a wet finger, until they are quite 
dry. 

For ironing sheets, pillow cases, towels, tablecloths, 
napkins, etc., fold lengthwise twice, then twice across. 
Always iron the way of the thread, or parallel with 
the selvedge. 

Use a little wax tied in a coarse rag for your irons 
and have convenient a small board on which knife 
brick or fine ashes has been sprinkled, rub your iron 
on this, then dust thoroughly over and under with a 
large duster. Don^t waste time in trying to iron with 
cool irons. Make up your fire, cover the irons with 
a large tin cover — a dish pan or wash boiler will do — 
and turn to something else, resolving to manage bet- 
ter next time. 

Covering the irons, by concentrating the heat, saves 
time when the fire is low or if your doors or windows 
are so arranged as to blow on the stove. A sheet iron 
cover comes for the express purpose, but very good 
shift may be made as I have described. 



50 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

Iron only tlie feet of ribbed stockings. 

When the ironing is finished put away holders, dus- 
ters, and wax in a bag or box appropriated for them, 
air the boards, and put them away. 

Fold all the clothes neatly as soon as aired and carry 
them up stairs. 



CHAPTEE V. 

THE IRONING TABLE. 

1E0NS that haye once been red hot, never retain 
the heat so well afterwards, and will always be 
rough; therefore, while losing no opportunity of 
using your fire, be careful not to put them on the 
stove hours before they are needed; and after using 
them, do not set them away flat on the floor or shelf, 
always stand them oh end. When it is possible, have 
every really useful modern appliance, of which there 
are so many now-a-days, to make work easy. To the 
woman who has no assistance in her work, even a 
small expense may be looked upon as economy, if it 
saves strength; that unpurchasable thing of which 
young women are often so prodigal. I know, how- 
ever, there are homes where true economy is recog- 
nized, and where a few dollars would not be grudged 
to lighten the wife's burden, yet if the dollars are not 
there how can it be done? Let us hope then, at least, 
the husband is handy with tools, and can make some 
things he cannot buy. That he can put a shelf Just 
where she needs it, to save her holding a lamp, while 
she cooks the winter supper, and if he can make an 
ironing table which shall hold the necessaries for 
ironing, and when not in use form a seat, so much 
the better; but one thing not diflBcult to make, and 



52 PR0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

which will save many a weary backache, is a seat ex- 
actly suited to the height of the woman needing it. 
All small things can just as well be ironed seated as 
standing, if the seat le right. 

Many a tired woman takes a chair and makes up 
her mind she will iron the collars and small things, 
seated, but the resolution lasts only a moment, she is 
soon on her aching feet again, and then she believes 
she is too nervous to work in a sitting position. It is 
nothing of the kind, the seat is not adapted to the 
height of the table, and she really finds herself work- 
ing at such disadvantage for her arms, that mechani- 
cally she assumes the old position. Let seat and table 
be adjusted to her, and she will soon find ironing or 
making cake, or rolling out cookies quite as easily ac- 
complished in sitting as standing. The seat must be 
high enough to bring her elbows well above the table, 
and give her the same command of it as if she were 
standing, and with this seat she would of course re- 
quire a stool or box on which to rest the feet. 

Such a seat will be of little use in cooking, without 
forethought to see that you have all your materials at 
hand before you begin to work. I know many an 
energetic woman with abundant strength will say: 
" Oh, I would not sit to work'' and feel that it was a 
poor way of doing. But there are women less strong, 
perhaps who have lost the strength on which they 
once prided themselves, and will just as readily say: 
"If I only could manage to sit." 

At first, it may seem that you have to jump up and 
down so often that you save little, but by degrees yoa 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 53 

will find the benefit, even if you only are enabled to 
sit five minutes out of twenty that you would other- 
wise stand, and as you get used to the sitting, you will 
be astonished to find how many things you can do sit- 
ting, and how little the jumping up that appeared so 
tiresome at first, will be needed when you have gotten 
used to providing against it. Many things we now 
stand to do, as I say, may be done seated, but I began 
to speak especially of ironing. 

Most people, now-a-days, use the skirt board for 
ironing everything. It should be covered with three 
thicknesses of heavy flannel, an old blanket is best, 
but a comfortable can be made to do; over this 
securely baste part of an old sheet, or any white cot- 
ton cloth without seams, that you may prefer for the 
purpose. The bosom board should be covered in the 
same way, and the covers of both frequently changed, 



CHAPTEE VI. 

WASHING DISHES AND CABING FOB LAMPS. 

I HAVE alluded before to the advisability of getting 
dislies washed and out of the way, now we will 
say something more definite about that so often 
dreaded task. 

To do it pleasantly and easily you need two large 
dish pans, in one of which you have very hot water 
and soap, the other empty, and a tray at your right 
hand. Lay the silver in the hot water; at first you 
may find it difificult to bear your hands in it, but very 
soon it will be easy; use a mop to help you wash the 
silver, take it out, and lay in the empty dish pan, roll 
the glasses round in the hot water, and put them also 
in with the silver, then put the remainder of the 
china in the water. Take the kettle of boiling water 
and pour enough over glasses and silver to rinse them; 
take a clean dish towel, or glass cloth, and rolling each 
glass in the hot water, take it out at once and wipe 
it. It will be so hot that it will dry at once and take 
a high polish in a moment. Lay each glass when 
dried on a tray. Take out the silver, using a mop to 
assist; this also being hot almost dries itself, give each 
piece a vigorous rub with the dry cloth, lay it on the 
tray, and then return to the china. 

Wash quickly and carefully to prevent chipping 



PB0QBE88IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 65 

the edges, lay each piece as you do it in the second 
dish pan, leaving greasy things till last. If you have 
not been interrupted and have worked quickly, your 
water will still be hot; if there is danger of it cooling 
while you wipe the silver and glass, set it on the stove 
before you begin. Use more soap with the greasy 
things. Your dish water should always be a hot 
lather, not half cold, greasy water, which leaves a 
dirty scum on hands and round the dish pan. When 
all the dishes are washed, pour boiling water from the 
kettle plentifully over them, then wipe them quickly 
from the hot water. Use this hot clean water for the 
tins, saucepans, or whatever you may afterwards have 
to wash. 

As usually done, the wiping is a much longer busi- 
ness than the washing, because even people who use 
two waters take them out of the last *'to drain," 
thinking then to lessen the wiping, but if they will 
try wiping each piece direct from the hot water, they 
will see that the rapid evaporation half does the work. 
Glass, silver, and china, so washed, is always brilliant; 
even delicate hands are not injured, and the work is 
clean and pleasant. 

A word about saucepans. Do you know, and will 
you believe, that you may save all the labor of scrap- 
ing saucepans in which oatmeal or mush has been 
boiled, by simply observing one precaution? Instead 
of taking it boiling from the fire, and pouring it out 
into the dish, let it stand on the table for five minutes, 
before you pour it from the saucepan. I do not mean 
that you are to leave it long enough to get cool; the 



56 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

mush and oatmeal porridge hold the heat so long, that 
five minutes away from the fire will make little per- 
ceptible difference except to the bottom of the sauce- 
pan. If you notice when you pour mush boiling from 
the saucepan, you will find the heat of the bottom 
instantly dries up what is left on. The usual way is 
to pour water to this and put it back on the stove; 
now the water will take hours to soak through the 
hard crust that coats the bottom of the saucepan, 
which, having been set back on the stove is baking 
still harder. When the mush is poured from the 
saucepan, after it has stood on a cool spot for a few 
minutes, you will find that the bottom is no longer 
baking hot, and if, for the sake of experiment, you 
take a spoon immediately, you will find the cake on 
the bottom will peel away and leave it clean. 

You will not, however, want to do this while get- 
ting breakfast, except once by way of experiment, 
therefore you can pour water in the saucepan, and 
leave it either in the sink or, if you require the water 
warm, on a cool part of the stove. A large clam 
shell is far better than a knife or spoon to scrape pots. 

I said put the saucepan on the table, and, lest I may 
seem regardless of the scrubbing it would cause, let 
me hasten to recommend a contrivance or two which 
will add much to your convenience; I mean the use 
of "pot boards." The simplest maybe the bottom 
of a butter firkin or small keg, one or two of these 
with a hole and string through each kept hanging 
near the table, save many a dark mark or stain. A 
still better way, however, is to have a small square 



PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 57 

board covered on one side with zinc. This serves to 
trim lamps upon in the morning, and any kerosene 
that may drop upon it helps to keep it clean, instead 
of soiling it as it -would the table. Once a week it 
should be scoured off with kerosene and ashes or brick 
dust and vinegar. Still another way to save table 
scrubbing is to have a yard of zinc nailed over one 
end of it. The nails used must be copper tacks. 

CAKE OF LAMPS. 

The regular trimming of lamps is one of the neces- 
sary morning duties, and appropriately follows the 
bed-room work, although it can be done during any 
ten vacant minutes there may be before going up 
stairs. The dovetailing of work, to make one task 
fit in with another so that there are no lost minutes, 
is the secret of accomplishing very much in a short 
time. If you have no regular lamp scissors, (which 
cost very little, save your others, and also save the 
bits of carbonized wick from dropping about,) de- 
vote an old pair to the purpose. 

In trimming the wick, cut off as little of the char- 
red part as possible, generally it is sufficient just to 
clip off any inequality of the burned surface. Some 
people do not cut the wick at all, but simply wipe it 
off with paper, but the edge sometimes remains rag- 
ged after this; then the scissors may be used with 
advantage to make it even; if the flame is not even, 
you may be sure there is some tiny point on the wick; 
see that the corners are very slightly rounded off, to 
prevent points of flame. If they are cut off too 



58 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

mucli, however, the flame will be too narrow, and the 
light not so good as the size of the wick will allow. 

Every drop of oil must be wiped from the burner, 
and nothing answers for this purpose better than 
newspaper which can be immediately burned. If a 
cloth is used, it must either be washed out immedi- 
ately, or it will cause the place in which it is kept, 
and everything near it, to smell of kerosene. 

When you are sure the lamp and burner are quite 
free from oil, polish the chimney. The common 
bulbous chimney is best cleaned, when only dim, with 
soft newspaper ; if smoked and fly spotted, wash it in 
soapy hot water, rinse it in clear hot water, and wipe 
it dry. Do not be satisfied to place a chimney that is 
not brightly polished on a lamp ; like a well black- 
ened stove, a clean lamp gives an air of cleanliness 
and cheerfulness to the plainest room, while a hand- 
some one in which the odor of kerosene is percepti- 
ble, and a smoke dimmed chimney visible, will seem 
neglected and depressing. 

For the cylinder chimney which is the most diffi- 
cult to clean, I have found nothing so good, after 
trying all sorts of contrivances, as the brush with wire 
handle sold for the purpose. With daily use of this, 
the chimney seldom needs washing and is always 
bright. The brush must be used dry; hold the chim- 
ney in your left hand with a duster or newspaper to 
prevent your touch from dimming it, then with the 
right hand push the brush sbarply up and down, pol- 
ish the outside with paper; less than a minute's work 
each day will keep the chimney in perfect order. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 59 

Once in a while wash the brush and dry it thor- 
oughly. 

The burners of all lamps require washing in soap 
and hot water once a week. 

When lamps cease to give a good light, many peo- 
ple throw them away and get new. There is usually 
nothing the matter, except that the perforations are 
choked with carbon and dust. Boil them for half an 
hour, in an old saucepan in which you have a good 
teaspoonf ul of washing soda to each quart of waterj 
rinse them and set them to dry. This will generally 
remedy the difficulty. 



CHAPTER VII. 

EXTBA WOBK FOR WEDNESDAT. 

WEDNESDAY is the day which most house- 
keepers feel to be the one of comparative 
leisure. That day may conveniently be 
reserved for extra duties. In the fall the bulk of the 
canning or pickling or preserving each week, may be 
done on that day. Occasionally it happens that fruit 
must be used, and then the housekeeper must do it 
without regard to days, but when she has the matter 
within her control, Wednesday interferes ^with her 
general work less. 

At this season the preserving is over, although for 
those whose absence from home, sickness, or other cause 
prevented them making a sufficient supply from sum- 
mer and fall fruits, there still remains orange mar- 
malade, apple jelly, and a very useful French mar- 
malade culled raisine, excellent for children. On 
certain fall and winter Wednesdays, too, the careful 
housekeeper may choose to utilize what would other- 
wise be thrown away: orange and lemon peels. A 
few jars of candied peels, are invaluable through the 
winter. They make a plain cake into something that 
is superior; the same with ginger-bread or cookies, 
and there is no such fragrant addition to mincemeat 



PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 61 

as these peels, and they take the place of citron for 
many purposes. 

Although, as I have said, recipes for cooking will 
be the rare exception in these papers, when one oc- 
curs to me that I think may not be found in the usual 
cookery books, I will give it. Candying peels comes 
under this head, I think, I therefore give directions 
how to do them. 

Keep two jars or crocks half full of strong salt and 
water. Into one drop any orange peels you may 
have ; into the other lemon peels. The thicker the 
peels the better for the purpose. Those from Havana 
oranges are not suitable. If they have been squeezed, 
rid them of the skin and pulp, but do not touch the 
white. Oranges that have been used for the table, if 
the peels have been neatly divided in halves or quar- 
ters, and not soiled by children, may be used for this 
purpose. If many lemons are not used in the house, 
it will pay to take advantage of their cheap season, 
when a quarter of a hundred may be bought for a 
small sum. The juice may be boiled into syrup and 
bottled, and the peels serve for candying. The peels 
will keep in salt and water, in a cool place, for months, 
provided the brine always covers them; or they may 
be only left a week in it. 

TO CAN-DY LEMON" PEELS. 

Boil the peels until very tender, but not at all 
broken, changing the water till it no longer tastes 
salt. They generally take from two to three hours to 
become tender. Strain the water from them when 



63 PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

you are sure they are done. Lemon peels have the 
peculiarity of hardening in syrup, unless they are 
quite tender when put in it. 

You can candy the peels in large pieces like citron 
which is really the proper way, although it may be 
convenient sometimes to have them ready for use. If 
you decide to candy them in large pieces, lay the 
peels in a preserving kettle; pour over them as many 
pints of water as will just cover them; add a pound 
of granulated sugar to each pint; let it boil up, then 
put the kettle where the peels will simmer till they are 
clear; you may then let the syrup boil fast till there 
is very little left. They require watching at this 
stage, for they will easily burn. You may lift each 
piece out and lay it on a dish on which granulated 
sugar has been sprinkled, and, covering them thickly 
with sugar, put them in a cool oven till dry; or you 
may do what is after all less trouble, and produces 
much handsomer results. This is after they have 
boiled till clear in the syrup, to lay each piece on an 
oiled dish; let them get cool while you boil a pound 
or two of sugar (according to the number of peels you 
have) with a gill of water to the pound, till it 
''hairs," then dip each piece of peel into the candy 
and lay it on an oiled dish to dry. 

If you prefer convenience to effect, you can cut the 
peels, when they are boiled tender, into chips, ready 
for use. To do this, cut them into strips an inch 
wide; pile three or four, one on the other, and cut 
into little thin strips about as wide as a match. 

Make a syrup of a pound of sugar to each pint of 



PBOOBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 63 

water; throw in the chips. Boil them slowly till 
clear, then faster till nearly all moisture has evapo- 
rated, then stir in a cupful more of sugar and put 
them where they can get dry, but cannot burn. When 
there is no longer any moisture, spread them thinly 
on sieves and put them in a cool oven or over the 
register to dry. If you have no sieves, spread them 
on tins thickly sprinkled with sugar, and stir them up 
from time to time. When cold pack away in glass 
jars for use. 

When the peels are cut small it is better not to 
candy too many in one kettle, as they are apt to dry 
in masses instead, of separate. 

Orange peels are candied just in the same way but 
do not take quite so long to boil. Never put both 
lemon and orange peel in the same salt water, nor 
candy them together. 

Eaisinb also is a preserve less well known than it 
deserves to be; I therefore give a recipe for that also: 



Take a dozen fine, large apples. Peel and quarter 
them, put them over a slow fire with a cupful of 
California sherry, or the same quantity of cider and 
a pound of sugar. When they have stewed tender, 
stone five pounds of fine, pulpy Valencia raisins, with 
enough water to prevent them burning; leave them 
to cook very slowly until they appear dissolved, and 
the whole is stiff. Beat the whole through a colander 
and then through a sieve, unless you have one of the 
squeezing machines which work on the principle of a 



64 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

lemon squeezer, and saye much labor in making mar- 
malade, jellies, etc. Pack away in small Jars and 
when about to use, cut it in thin slices and dust each 
with confectioner's sugar. This is delicious eaten 
with cream. 

Orange marmalade is probably too well known to 
require a recipe; but before quitting the subject of 
preserves I wish to suggest a plan which, from my 
own experience, saves much time and vexation. 

A NEW WAY TO COVER JELLY. 

I allude to the covering of jams and jellies. The 
trouble of papering them securely is, to many, the 
worst part of making them, especially when it is 
necessary to make a large quantity. Much time may 
be saved by using waxed paper, which can be bought 
at the confectioners' supply stores, very cheaply. 
Twelve cents' worth will be sufficient for a whole sea- 
son. Cut a round of the paper to fit the top of your 
jelly glass, and have a quarter of an inch or so mar- 
gin; lay the waxed paper on the jelly, press it with 
your fingers gently till there are no air bubbles under 
it, then press the margin closely round the inside of 
the glass. This is all you need to do; jelly so put up 
will rarely have mildew on it, and keep in every way 
better than with the usual brandied paper and second 
paper cover. 

MENDIKG. 

I have spoken of Wednesday being usually the most 
convenient for mending, and even in families where 
it takes more than one day, that may be the best on 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 65 

which to begin it, when other things do not prevent. 

It is a good plan to have a small basket near the 
ironing board while ironing, and as the articles need- 
ing repair are ironed, lay them in it. In this way the 
tiny split in a napkin or towel, which will not take 
five minutes to darn, will not be unnoticed until it 
has assumed too large proportions for it to escape. 

In mending, "a, stitch in time" does indeed ''save 
nine," — or ninety-nine. The stocking with tiny hole 
and thin spot which can be so neatly darned (the thin 
spot closely run on the wrong side with a stitch bearly 
visible on the right) this week, as" to be hardly per- 
ceptible, will, if left for another wearing, have a large 
hole which necessitates a large, unsightly darn that 
will be three times the work. 

In darning children's colored stockings, be sure the 
cotton is of good quality and will not fade, or else, 
darn you never so neatly, after one wash the stocking 
will be shabby, by reason of the faded darns. At any 
first rate store darning cotton, warranted fast dyes, 
are sold, and may be relied upon. 

Table linen should be darned with very fine linen 
floss or, better still, the raveling from a strip of 
damask. 

Window shades, chintz or any starched article that 
is not often washed^ can be neatly repaired while 
being ironed by laying over the spot a small piece of 
material matching in texture. This of course must 
be starched and wet; the iron will paste them together. 
Chinese laundrymen turn this kmd of mending to 
account with bachelors' shirts and collars. 



66 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

procramkie; of ^work. . 

wednesday. 

After the regular work has been got through with, 
what extra work is to be done on Wednesday must 
depend on the circumstances of the family. 

Preserving, mending, bread making, window clean- 
ing (if there are too many windows, or too much 
sweeping, for them to be done on sweeping day) may 
all be conveniently done on the one " off ^' day of the 



It is a good plan to wash lamp burners on this day 
(see full directions chapter V), as it saves time from 
those more crowded with work. Nevertheless it is 
well to let the busy days carry their own burden, so 
as to keep Wednesday as far as possible for the unusual 
work, and if none presents itself, for a little of the 
play that would agree with our constitution so well if 
we could try it oftener. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

THTJKSDAY— BED-EOOM SWEEPING. 

IN a small house the sweeping can often he done in 
one day, and Friday is set apart for it, but it 
makes housekeeping easy, so to divide work that 
no one day shall be over full of it. It can then be 
performed easily, and so thoroughly that ** house- 
cleaning " will not be the time of terror it so often 
is. I therefore recommend sweeping the upper rooms 
on Thursday and leaving the lower till Friday. It is 
not always necessary to thoroughly sweep the spare 
rooms every week; they should be gone over with the 
sweeper and nicely dusted. Every other week the 
carpet broom may be used; this is a question, however, 
which every housekeeper must decide for herself. I 
wish to remind her that there is no merit in doing 
needless work. 

• If you have pretty knicknacks round the room, 
dust them and lay them on the bed, draw up shades 
as far as they will go, pin up curtains, and for very 
delicate ones, it is nice when you have folded and pin- 
ned them quite short to slip over each an old pillow 
case and pin it as near the curtain pole as you can. 

Cover the bed and anything likely to get dusty with 
old sheets. For carpeted roonis there is nothing bet- 
ter to sweep with than damp tea leaves, but they are 



68 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

apt to stain matting, for sweeping which, a newspaper, 
dipped in water till very soft and wrung out, then 
torn into shreds and flung round the floor, is excellent. 
The flue and bed-room dust is so light that, without 
something to gather it, it is apt, with the most careful 
sweeping, to float in the air when disturbed, rather 
than remain in front of the broom. 

If there is a fire in the room, remove the ashes be- 
fore beginning to sweep, brushing them gently from 
the stove wherever they may have lodged, and if the 
stove is a very warm one, and you leave it dormant 
the better part of the time, take this opportunity to 
remove clinkers and give it a thorough raking, as, if 
you leave it to do till a day or two later, your room 
will be full of dust again. 

Leave the stove to be blackened after the sweeping 
is done. 

Sweep with a long, steady stroke, taking care to form 
a habit of raising the broom at the end of the stroke 
in such a way as to prevent dust raising. Watch some 
women sweep, and you will understand what I mean. 
They will work hard, and sweep as if they were dig- 
ging; a small cloud of dust will follow the end of the 
broom every time it is raised. 

Be careful to go into every corner with the end of your 
broom, and to brush all dust from between carpet or 
matting and skirting board, as here is where moths love 
to harbor. Sweep from all sides of the room to the cen- 
ter. This sweeping to center instead of the door may 
strike some readers as an innovation, but if they will 
consider a moment they will see that there is no reason 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 69 

whatever for dragging the dust all over the room. 
Sweeping toward the center of a sixteen feet square 
room, you only sweep the dust eight feet each way, 
instead of carrying it before the broom the whole six- 
teen feet. Short, quick strokes of the broom are apt 
to scatter the dust, especially when the stroke ends 
with an upward jerk, as I have often seen it do, when 
the broom is in the hands of vigorous girls who im- 
agine they are getting over the ground much more 
rapidly by hurried movements than they would if 
they took greater pains. But hurryis not speed; some 
women are quick and thorough, others slow and 
thorough, but the one always hurrying, is rarely 
either quick or thorough, she makes work all the 
time she is doing it. 

Before beginning to sweep, open such windows as 
will not interfere with the dust; I mean such as will 
not blow it about. Often people throw open every 
window and sweep, in a sort of small whirlwind. 
Dust cannot go out through a window against which 
the wind is blowing, therefore such a window is to be 
kept carefully shut, unless there is one opposite. 
When the sweeping is done and the dust all carefully 
gathered into a dustpan, then open all windows if you 
choose, so that a thorough draught may carry out the 
particles in the air. The room can now be left for 
dust to settle while you go to another. 

For the rooms needing less thorough sweeping, use 
the sweeper, but before doing so, go round the skirt- 
ing board and in the corners with the broom, brush- 
ing out the dust. To many this will seem as much 



70 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

trouble as sweeping the room, but it is far from being 
so, because the preparation and dusting will be so 
much less. 

When the dust has well settled, tie a duster oyer 
your broom and sweep the walls and ceiling, dust the 
tops of furniture, doors and skirting board. Wash 
all porcelain on the washstand and the marble, or if 
you use a toilette cloth, change it. Eub the looking 
glass with a dry duster; if spotted, use a damp cloth 
first. If you are particular to have the dark polish 
BO much admired on mirrors, keep some washing blue 
in powder tied in muslin enclosed in a box, and when 
polishing mirrors dab the muslin gently over the 
glass ; enough blue will come through, then polish, 
taking care to remove any blue powder from the 
frame, etc. 

Dust the sashes of the windows and clean the win- 
dows. In winter it is not always possible to clean 
windows when they need it, but make a rule on sweep- 
ing day to go all over the panes with a dry duster. 
This will often be all that is necessary for weeks, as 
it removes all the smoke and dust, and while the snow 
lies the outside does not get dirty, the soil is all inside- 
Do not in frosty weather, attempt to wet the glass. 
If the windows are much soiled you can wet a sponge 
with alcohol and go over them. 

When cleaning windows do not use soap; a very 
little soda, borax, or ammonia, in the water, will be 
best, but water alone will do. Use a sponge or cloth, 
wrung almost dry. Go over the entire window with 
this, taking care to go into every corner with your 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 71 

forefinger or the handle of an old tooth brush covered 
with the damp cloth. 

When you have done the last pane, go over them, 
quickly with a soft, dry duster, beginning with the 
pane you first wetted. If you work briskly it is a 
very few minutes work to clean a window. 

Polish off with an old newspaper, and do not be 
satisfied until you have removed every blur. 

When the rooms are all in order and the doors 
closed, proceed to the corridors, and bath-room if 
there is one ; this will probably have oilcloth on the 
floor unless it is of hard wood, the cleaning of which 
will be spoken of later. Oilcloth, however, needs only 
wiping with warm water and flannel wrung half dry 
and rinsed till it comes from the floor clean, showing 
that it has taken up the dirt, then wipe with a coarse 
cloth. This will preserve oil cloth bright double the 
time it usually keeps so. Free use of water, which 
gets under it and cannot dry away, rots it, while 
scrubbing with soap destroys the color in a short 
time. 

Scour out the bath tub with soap and fine sand if 
it is not enameled. Eub up the faucets, and every 
few weeks rub the wood work of the bath with fur- 
niture oil; this will preserve it and prevent the shabby 
look it so soon gets. If the bath is painted inside, 
simply go over it with a flannel dipped in whitening. 

However good your plumbing may be, your security 
will be greater if, every week, you use a disinfectant 
liberally. One that costs very little, and is perfectly 
odorless, is made by dissolving a heaped teaspoonful of 



72 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

nitrate of lead in a quart of boiling water. Stir witli 
a stick and then add it to a pail of cold water. This 
is odorless and will not stain; it costs about three 
cents, and if it is thrown once a week down the bath- 
tub closet and stationary wash bowl, it will be money 
well spent. Another disinfectant may be preferred, 
only use something of the kind regularly on a certain 
day. If the day for doing a thing is fixed, it gener- 
ally gets done; if *'once a week," means any day, it 
is often forgotten. This is the reason why, although 
I am not an advocate for cast iron rules of housekeep- 
ing, and should not make a trouble of it, if circum- 
stances made it necessary, or even pleasant, for the 
whole order of work to be so changed for a week or 
two that nothing was done on its appointed day and 
some things not done at all, yet it no doubt saves 
nerves and time to have regular rules and days. In 
these papers I hope it will be clearly understood that 
I am only making suggestions, not laying down laws; 
one can only do that for individual cases, and what 
suits my house and circumstances, or those of some 
of my readers, cannot possibly suit all. I hope only 
that the inexperienced housekeeper may be able to 
form for herself some weekly plan of work from what 
I write. 

Silver cleaning is a convenient Thursday task. It 
is well to keep about the number of silver articles re- 
quired for daily use separate from the full number 
you keep out; for instance, although you may only 
be four in a family, you will probably have a dozen 
spoons and forks in the basket, but if you keep part 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 73 

aside and use the others, except when you need the 
whole for changes, you will be sure of having two or 
three perfectly bright for visitors without going to 
your locked silver. Those only once or twice used, 
too, will not need the weekly cleaning. This may 
seem a small matter to save, but to women without a 
servant every minute saved is so much gain ; others 
more fortunate can ignore these small matters. 

I speak of a weekly cleaning, but, as a matter of 
fact, if the silver is washed as I have recommended, 
it will be almost as bright at the week's end as at the 
beginning. It is the washing in lukewarm water and 
drying when cold, that gives the dull, leaden appear- 
ance after a few days' use. Silver dried out of hot 
water on a clean cloth, will really be always bright, 
and thorough cleaning once in a month will suffice, 
only requiring each piece to be rubbed with a dry 
leather each week. But unless you do the washing 
of it with your own hands, the probabilities are that 
it will require the weekly cleaning. 

There are several approved ways of cleaning silver, 
all good, and I give them that you may take the way 
you prefer. 

You require a small sponge or piece of flannel, a 
soft chamois skin, a clean dry duster, and a silver 
brush. If you have no chamois, keep old, undressed 
kid gloves for the purpose. 

Eub all articles that are badly stained, such as egg 
spoons, etc., with salt; it will remove stains more 
easily than anything else. The simplest way, and one 
of the best, is to mix a little whitening in a saucer 



74 PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

with water enough to make a thick paste, to this add 
a few drops of household ammonia. 

Instead of the ammonia and water, you may moisten 
the whitening with alcohol, or with simple water; 
whicheyer you use, the process is the same. 

Many prefer to use the articles sold ready prepared 
for cleaning silver; several are very good, but do not 
be tempted into trying any new article, warranted to 
give extraordinary brilliance without labor, buy only 
those that have stood the test of time. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE WASTE OF THE HOUSEHOLB — TO CLABIFY FAT — TO 
MAKE SOFT SOAP WITHOUT BOILING. 

I HAVE been trying to find space to say something 
about the -waste of a household, but other mat- 
ters haye crowded it out. It would astonish the 
heads of some families who believe themselves fairly 
economical, to know how far economy may be carried 
in a household forced to it. However, I am not sup- 
posing extreme cases, and will only speak of a few 
points on which money might be saved. A great deal 
of coal is lost by some people who think it does not 
pay to sift ashes. From the furnace, perhaps not, 
especially if you have to hire a man to do it, but in a 
small house where the work is not very heavy, the 
cinders from the kitchen are so well worth doing 
that a scuttle nearly full of good fuel will result 
from the morning sifting ; if the sifter is fixed on a 
barrel and covered, it is not disagreeable work, nor 
will it take ten minutes to sift cinders from two or 
three fires. 

Another source of waste is the fat. In some houses 
everything is put away for soap fat, which is sold to 
the junk man for a trifle, and lard bought for cook- 
ing; in others, beef fat is kept and all else thrown 



76 PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

away. As a matter of fact, most families would have 
little need to buy lard, and soap only for laundry pur- 
poses, if all fat were saved. 

It is needless to say, perhaps, that the fat of beef 
is as wholesome as butter, or that hog's lard is one of 
the most unwholesome ingredients of our food, yet, 
in spite of this acknowledged fact, it is the beef fat 
that is often thrown away and lard that is purchased 
for use. There are two reasons for this, no doubt. 
The lard comes ready rendered and in neat shape, and 
although it is high in price and largely adulterated 
(even when nothing is added to it, it is said that what 
we buy as lard from the grocer has had lard oil already 
made from it), it is bought for convenience. The 
second reason maybe that, although it is known beef 
fat is wholesome, it is not known so widely, that every 
bit of dripping, every bit of fat steak, the skimming 
from water in which beef has boiled, can be tried out 
and clarified into the purest and sweetest beef lard. 

Have a crock into which you put all your scraps of 
clean fat pork, veal or beef, all fat but mutton, every 
day, and once a week bring them to the kitchen, cut 
them small, and put them in a saucepan with a small 
cup of water to prevent burning. Leave them at the 
back of the stove while you are doing other things, 
and when the bits have all shrunken to nothing and 
look crisp it is done; strain off into a bowl. If only 
scraps of fresh fat were in the crock you need only 
turn it out of the bowl in a cake when cold, scrape 
off the bottom in case of sediment and put it away. 
If the crock also contained drippings and skimmings 



PBOGBESSIVJE HOUSEKEEPING. 77 

(it is better to have these, however, in a separate ves- 
sel), it will need clarifying; this is done by putting 
the cake of fat you now have, in a saucepan with a pint 
of boiling water and let them boil together without a 
cover for an hour; this will remove the taste of vege- 
tables or anything that might otherwise taint the drip- 
ping. Throw in a teaspoonful of salt and let it get 
cold in a cake. Turn it out and scrape the bottom. 
It will now be sweet, and clear of all impurity. This 
should be used for frying and greasing pans. 

For pastry, buy from your butcher six to ten pounds 
of beef fat, which, although, since the days of oleo- 
margarine, is not such a drug in the market as be- 
fore, can still be readily bought from six cents to 
seven cents per pound. You do not want suet, but 
the inside fat or any other. Try this out exactly as 
you would hog's lard. You will find that the ref- 
use will not weigh half a pound. This wholesome 
beef lard, firm as butter, will go much farther than 
the ordinary lard you buy and cost at least three 
cents a pound less. This can be used in cake, bis- 
cuit, pastry, everything in fact, for which you would 
use lard. 

In very cold weather, if there is admixture of suet, 
you may find beef lard too firm to rub into flour; if 
this prove so, try out with it one-third pork fat. 

It is a great improvement, either to beef or hog's 
lard, to beat it with a wooden spoon till cold. Begin 
to beat when it is cool enough to thicken and con- 
tinue till it is too stiff. It will be much whiter and 
finer in texture than if allowed to cool without beating. 



'(IS PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

Another much written about source of waste is the 
throwing away of bones, and because it is so important 
a part of domestic economy, I add my word to the 
many already spoken as to this branch of kitchen 
management. I know some housekeepers think un- 
less they have large joints and many bones, it is more 
trouble than saving. 

One lady said to me, *' You always talk about boil- 
ing down bones, but how can one have bones to boil? 
We Tiave chops and steaks and sometimes a small 
roast of beef, or a chicken, none of which make any- 
thing worth stewing down, then bones are such un- 
manageable things; you have to put a leg of lamb 
bone or a single beef rib bone into a large saucepan 
with quarts of water to cover it, or else the greater 
part sticks out, and, of course, does no good to the 
water." 

Certainly not, but you can break the bones up, a 
small machine comes for the purpose, but as few bones 
are harder than a hickory nut, you can generally man- 
age to crack them by laying them on a four-pound 
weight and giving them a blow with a hammer. AH 
bones that have not been handled are good to make 
stock, and bruise even small ones; the smaller you can 
break them the better. 

Of course, in a small family, you need not boil the 
bones each day. If they are not likely to keep, put 
them in the oven and bake them well, they will then 
keep until you have more. 

A very good soup may be made of bones alone. 
You will find the stock, when cold, a firm jelly, but 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 79 

it will need to be a vegetable soup, or one flavored with 
them and thickened with peas or beans. But if to 
this stock you add a pound of chopped leg of beef 
to each two or three quarts, with the usual flavoring, 
you will have a rich, strong soup for any purpose ex- 
cept clear louillon. 

In boiling bones for stock the goodness may be con- 
sidered extracted when they look quite dry and white. 
Scraps, fag ends of mutton chops or steak, all help, 
and, however fat, remember you are killing two birds 
with one stone, for the fat will form on the top when 
cold and can be taken off and clarified. 

If, instead of using this bone stock for soup, you 
use it for hash or warming over meat for a week, you 
will never again be without for the purpose. Cold 
meat warmed simply with water and onion and flour, 
if carefully done, may be quite palatable, yet no one 
would say for a moment, it equalled fresh cooked 
meat; but if, instead of the water, gravy or stock is 
used you will find it as rich as any fresh meat, and it 
is equally nourishing, because the gravy supplies what 
was drawn out of the meat. So true is this, that 
where there could be no bone stock, it would be an 
economy to buy, once a week, a soup bone simply to 
make gravy for warming over purposes. Three pints 
of strong stock would cost at most twenty cents, and 
there would be an end of insipid dishes, by boiling it 
over for ten minutes, after the third day it will keep 
another three days in a cold place. 

I have spoken of using mutton fat for soap. It 
should be tried out while fresh, that no disagreeable 



80 PBOGBESSIVJS HOUSEKEEPING. 

odor may be in the house, and kept apart for the pur- 
pose. I speak of making it into soft soap because, 
unless you have more fat than you can use for that pur- 
pose, it is easier to make than hard soap, which must 
be boiled, and for some hours, at least, the odors it 
gives forth are not those of Araby the blest. With 
soft soap, made according to the recipe I append, 
there need be no boiling, no odor. 

Dissolve three pounds of potash in three quarts of 
water. Put the potash, in the lump, in an old sauce- 
pan, pour the boiling water on it, set it on the stove 
and leave it till it is dissolved; it may take several 
hours. Stir it about with a stick now and then, tak- 
ing care not to splash it on you, three pounds of clean 
fat in a tub or small barrel. When the potash is dis- 
solved pour on the fat, stir well with the stick and 
leave it. Next day pour a kettle (holding at least a 
gallon) of boiling water, slowly, to the potash and 
fat, stirring thoroughly. Do this every morning till 
the soap is made, which you will know by it begin- 
ning to look like stiff jelly when cold, and losing all 
appearance of grease, then try it; if it seems too 
strong, or makes the hands rough, add more boiling 
water. The soap will be ready to use in about nine 
days after it is started. 

This soap is good for scrubbing, dish washing, paint 
cleaning, and washing coarse cloths. 

In another paper I shall have something to say of 
certain much neglected means of economy, which 
would not diminish but increase household comfort 
and even luxury, paradoxical as this may sound. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 81 

programme; op 'work. 

bed-eoom sweeping. 

Dust ornaments, cover them, cover up furniture, 
roll up curtains and pin them. Take up ashes if 
there is a fire in the room, laying down a paper in 
front of the stove while you do it. 

Then scatter tea leaves or moistened newspaper, 
torn in shreds, all round the room, open the windows 
on the opposite side from the wind, then begin to 
sweep, taking care to brush the corners first. 

Sweep to the center of the room, gather up 
the dirt on a dustpan, and then throw open any 
other windows that will create a current of air to 
carry out dust; proceed to the other rooms till all 
are swept. Black the stoves, if there are any, then 
dust the rooms, beginning with walls and ceil- 
ing, which go over with the broom covered with a 
duster. 

Wash all toilet articles, clean windows, wash any 
finger marks from paint. As you finish each room, 
look round to see that you have left nothing undone, 
and that no brush, cloth, or duster, remains behind 
you, then close the door, so that in sweeping hall or 
corridor and stairs the dust does not enter. 

Having swept corridors and stairs and dusted the 
walls, windows and sashes, take a pail and warm 
water, wring a cloth from it and wipe along the skirt- 
ing board and side of the stairs. Kinse your cloth 
very often, so that your work may not look smeary, 
because you cannot use water freely if there is carpet 



82 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

or matting; all you want is to remove dust more 
effectually than a broom will do it. 

If there is a bath-room, scour out the bath with 
soap and sand, oil the wood work and wipe the oil- 
cloth with warm water and a flannel without soap, 

Eub all faucets and any brass or nickel there may be. 

Sweep corridor and stairs, dust bannisters and skirt- 
ing board, and go over the latter and sides of the 
stairs with a cloth wrung out of soapy warm water. 

Clean silver, taking care that it is all nicely washed 
in hot water. 

Rub over it the following mixture: 

TO CLEAN SILVER. 

Whitening made into cream with diluted ammonia, 
or alcohol, or water, rub all dark or stained pieces 
well. When each is covered with a thin milky coat, 
leave it to dry while you go on with the rest. 

When all are dry, rub off the whitening, and then 
polish with a leather; lastly, rub all vigorously with 
a brush, to remove all the cleaning material from 
crevices. The brush also cleans and polishes the 
chasing where the leather is useless. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE ECONOMY OF ODDS AND ENDS. 

ON Friday, if possible, it is well to finish the 
work of the house, leaving Saturday for the 
cleansing of the kitchen, pantries, cellars, 
and whatever offices may be attached to it. On Satur- 
day, too, most housekeepers make cake, cookies, pies, 
etc., for the week, although in families where pastry 
is required in small quantity, but very good, puff or 
half puff paste is better made on Friday, to be used 
on Saturday. The larder, safe, or refrigerator should, 
of course, be inspected every morning, and in cold 
weather it may be found better each morning to lay 
on one plate pieces of fat to be tried out, on another 
fag ends of beefsteak, of chops, bones, etc., and make 
Friday the day for disposing of them, so that on 
Saturday you begin afresh. Possibly each day the 
left over meat may be too little to make any dish, but 
never was any maxim more worthy of the housekeep- 
ers's recollection than the good old Scotch one, "Mony 
a mickle makes a muckle." One fag end of steak may 
not seem worth making into hash (although a small 
sweet or white potato, and the end of even one steak 
will make hash for one person's breakfast), but three 
or four will make as nice a stew or hash for three or 
four people as if you were to buy meat expressly, and 



84 PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

you save exactly the price of meat for one meal. Or, 
if you are not in need yourself, and charitably give 
away your broken food, you will do infinitely more 
good by giving one good meal to a family of children 
than allowing bits of cold meat to be given each day. 

Beggars will always be beggars, and I cannot say I 
advise giving relief to that class, but there is many 
a hard-working woman and her children insufficiently 
nourished whom a hot meat supper once a week may 
go far to keep in health, and cost nothing but the 
little trouble. 

However, this is a digression, on a subject which 
requires more thought than could be given in a mere 
aside — I mean the subject of charity, when and how 
it is wise to give — one -thing only I will say, if you 
give, be sure it is where it will aid the self-helping 
and not foster pauperism, and then give in the shape 
that will do most good, even if it takes some trouble. 

To " return to our muttons/' or, in this case, steaks, 
there may be among your fag ends less of steak than 
anything else — a single chop, a bit of veal, half a 
slice, or less, of boiled ham ; never mind, so much 
the better for stew. The ends of steak are often con- 
sidered quite useless. An excellent housekeeper once 
said to me, "1 can use every scrap in my house ex- 
cept the end of beefsteak ; that is sheer waste, for we 
always have steak broiled, and the blackish smoke 
makes it unfit for any use when cold." 

I could have made two answers : (1.) There was 
no real necessity for it to be black ; (2.) that if it be 
black, a bath of boiling water would remove it. But 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 85 

the lady was making a statement, not asking advice, 
so I refrained from saying what I say now, — cold meat, 
that has unfortunately been blackened in broiling, 
should be put into a colander, set in .a bowl, and boil- 
ing water be poured over it. Stir it about quickly to 
rinse well, then lift the colander and drain. This dis- 
poses of the black grease, ii it is there. 

Now, I suppose, although it is somewhat aside from 
my purpose, I had better tell how to make a few right 
good dishes of these oft despised remains. You must 
remember, from cold roast meat you will not have 
nearly so good material for warming over as from 
these pieces of steak, because they are so much less 
cooked the first time. There is usually a thick band 
of fat to the end of steak; trim that nearly all away 
and lay it aside. Your meat is now ready to make 
either of the following stews: 

STEWED BEEF. 

Cut the beef into inch square pieces; flour each; 
cut a small carrot, a small turnip, and a large onion 
into slices, put the fat you trimmed off into a deep 
spider or a saucepan, let it get very hot, lay in the 
vegetables, cover, and leave them to brown (not 
burn,) stirring occasionally. When they are all nicely 
browned, pour on them a pint of boiling water, and 
lay in the meat ; put with it a moderate teaspoonful 
of salt, half a saltspoonful of pepper, with two or 
three coarse stalks of celery, if you have them, cut 
fine. Let all stew very gently for two hours at least, 
or until the meat is quite tender, but remember, if 



86 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

it has loiled or stewed fast, it will never be that, nor 
would it, if you made your stew of tenderloin. Skim 
free from fat and serve. 

EOPA VIEGA STEW. 

Cut the beef into small pieces. Cut the fat into a 
spider; slice into it three large onions; let them fry 
brown. Dredge each piece of meat with flour, pep- 
per and salt, using a small teaspoonful of the first 
and a quarter one of pepper. Add the meat and half 
a small can of tomatoes, or six fresh ones, sliced, to 
the onions; let all stew two hours very slowly and 
closely covered. Use no water unless the stew is quite 
too thick, when add a little boiling water. 

These sound as if they took more time to prepare 
than they really do. You will understand that the 
vegetables in the first recipe can be put on quite early, 
and once they have gone into the very hot pan, can 
after the first few minutes be drawn to the back of 
the stove, while you or your maid go about other 
tasks; remember only to give an occasional stir to 
them when you are near the range. After the meat 
and tomatoes are added, you need to watch it perhaps 
for another five minutes to discover just on which 
part of the range it will cook slowly enough. You 
will, after that, look at it once or twice to see that the 
simmer has not ceased altogether, nor yet become 
too fast. 

Another dish that may be conveniently made of 
cold mutton, veal, pork, beef, or a bit of all — any 
odds and ends, in fact — and if you have also cold 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 87 

calf's liver, so much the better ; if not. get a lamVs 
liver. This is a dish for an epicure, although the 
materials may seem only fit to make into an everyday 
hash. 

MOCK TEEEAPIH. 

Cut the meat into dice; do not chop it, but cut it 
as small as green peas. If you use fresh liver, wash 
and trim it and set it in a hot oven for half an hour. 
Keep the gravy from it, cut it up in slices half an 
inch thick, then across and across into small dice. 
Shake over the meat and liver a small tablespoonful of 
flour, a teaspoonf ul of made mustard, as much cayenne 
as will go on half a silver dime, the same of ground 
cloves or three whole cloves; stir all together, put into 
a stewpan with the gravy from the liver, and a small 
teacupful of boiling water, with which rinse the pan 
in which the liver was baked. Keep this well covered 
on a part of the range where it will keep boiling hot 
but not boil. Just before serving, chop two hard 
boiled eggs rather fine ; add them with a lump of 
butter the size of an Qgg and a wine glass of wine or 
good cider. Serve with a cut lemon. 

Now, only the last of these three dishes need cost 
more than ordinary hash; the addition of the vegeta- 
bles, costing a few cents, so increases the quantity of 
food that one need not count their cost, and I invite 
you to see how much better a meal of one will seem 
than one of hash. I said I hoped once in a while to 
be useful to those who cater for boarders. Will not 
this last dish seem a sumptuous change to those who 
grumble at too frequent hash ? 



88 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

Now we return again to the larder and its refuse. 
If there are chop "bones, steak bones, the carcass of a 
turkej or fowl well denuded of meat, crack them all 
up with a hatchet as small as you can; set them on 
with a teaspoonful of salt and two quarts of water, 
let them boil all day slowly; by night there will be 
from a pint to a quart (according to the number of 
bones) of broth, which will jelly ■when cold, and will 
do for grayy or to warm over meat in during the 
week. 

If you have skimmings from stews or soup, odd 
pieces of fat left from roasts, trimmings of chops, etc., 
cut all into small pieces and put them into a saucepan 
with a little water to ''try out." When the water 
has boiled away, the bits of meat and fat will be crisp. 
Skim these out of the fat, put a little salt and a pint 
of boiling water to the fat, and boil fast ten minutes; 
pour into a bowl and set it away. Next day take the 
cake of fat from the water, scrape every bit of sedi- 
ment and water from the bottom, and this fat will be 
good for any kind of frying. If tliese cakes accumu- 
late, melt them all down together in a lard pail. (See 
also Chapter IX., " "Wastes of the Household.") 

If the cheese is reduced to a small crusty piece 
which you do not care to put on the table, and may 
be quite sure Delia will not eat, have it grated up ; 
an ounce will make a little glass dishful for the table; 
if you have more than this or do not want it there, 
put in a glass bottle ready for macaroni, etc. 

The bread box needs scalding and drying once a 
week, in summer twice. If there is no sun in which 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 89 

to stand it, put it for a few minutes on a part of your 
range where it will dry thoroughly. 

All pieces of bread may either be made into a pud- 
ding or dried for use, many peoj^le dry crust and 
crumb together. This is a mistake, as the crumb is 
spoilt for many uses if there is the least admixture 
of crust. Cut crust from the crumb, put both into 
separate pans in a very cool oven, be careful the crumb 
does not color. When it has quite dried out and is 
crisp, roll it fine and put it away to use for queen pud- 
ding, frying, turkey dressing, or the many uses to 
which fine bread crumbs are put. Bake the crusts 
till perfectly brown and crisp, roll them, taking care 
to remove any pieces that may be very dark in color. 
When they are quite fine, put them away for use. 
Brown sifted crumbs are useful for sprinkling over 
boiled ham. They ornament many dishes not other- 
wise brown enough — such as macaroni — and if cake 
tins, after being greased, are strewn with them and 
the superfluous ones shaken out, the cake will be much 
handsomer. Glass fruit jars, too defective to use for 
canning, are excellent receptacles for crumbs, etc. 

I have indicated these things for Friday's special 
work, not because they might not as well be done any 
other day, just whenever the time presents itself, but 
because, unless you are very severe with yourself, 
what has no special time for the doing is apt to be 
neglected or forgotten, while, if you have a certain 
hour on a certain day for the task, it will be done if 
you have a moderate regard for system. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



SWEEPING — DUSTING. 



IN small houses the whole of the sweeping may be 
done on Friday, although, as it is always well to 
avoid a heavy day's work when two moderate 
ones can as easily be managed, as I have recommended 
in last instalment, bedroom sweeping and the cleaning 
of bedroom windows may be apportioned to Thursday. 
In large houses, if the sweeping is to be done by one 
person, such division is absolutely necessary. 

Before sweeping dining-room, parlor, library, etc., 
roll up the curtains, portieres, etc., and slip old pillow 
cases over them. Brush the lounges, going well into 
every corner with a brush kept for the purpose. If 
you are unfortunate enough to have tufted furniture, 
this brushing must be very thorough, in order to pre- 
vent moths and also the packets of dust that will 
lodge in the plaits round the buttons. No mere sur- 
face brushing will do this; every fold and button must 
have attention if you would preserve the beauty of 
the covering, and sad to say, the better the quality 
and stufl&ng of tufted furniture the more difl&cult the 
care of it is. Once the dust has been allowed to ac- 
cumulate round the buttons, it is almost an impossible 
task ever to get it completely free, although hours of 
work, patience, and an old toothbrush will do much. 
Brushes come expressly for tufted furniture, but 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 91 

although they may help to keep new furniture clean, 
they are but little use in removing dust once it has 
become impacted in the crevices by neglect. 

Lounges are usually too large to put outside, but 
chairs are better brushed out of doors, if you have 
convenience for it. In cities this, of course, is often 
impossible, but they are the better for the airing where 
it can be done, otherwise brush them and set them in 
another room. Cover the larger pieces of furniture 
with old sheets or any available covers. Eemove 
small articles of bric-a-brac from the walls, dust them, 
lay them on a table, and cover it. Plush frames, 
hangings, etc., should also be taken down or covered. 
Ornamental plants should be removed, or, if too 
large, the leaves carefully dusted and covered, as noth- 
ing so soon destroys the beauty of plants as dust — it 
chokes and blights them. 

When all superfluous articles are removed, begin to 
clean the room by taking up ashes. On sweeping day 
do not let the fire draw until the grate is thoroughly 
blacked and polished. If there are nickel trimmings, 
polish with kerosene and whitening, or with plate 
powder. If the trimmings are of bright steel, fine 
emery powder should be used. By far the most gen- 
eral fashion at present, however, is brass, both for fire 
irons and grates. This is far more easily cleaned than 
polished steel, and, if never allowed to get much tar- 
nished, is really very easy to keep bright. Brass in 
good condition and cleaned weekly requires only rub- 
bing with a little whitening and a leather; discolored 
and neglected brass requires hard work the first time 



93 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

it is cleaned, and the use of one or other of the prepar- 
ations I give in the programme of work. 

There are many diverse opinions about carpet sweep- 
ing. Some good housekeepers maintain that to throw 
any damp substance on the floor to prevent dust rising 
is a mistake, also that every window should be open 
and the dust allowed to rise and be blown out — the 
more wind the better. Others, whose authority ap- 
pears to me equally good, say, and I agree with them, 
that to sweep in a gale with nothing to "lay the 
dust " is to make a dirty, suffocating business of one 
that is otherwise not unjDleasant. The fact seems to 
me that the dust so raised will only be blown out so 
far as it lies in the course of the wind, the rest will 
lodge on the walls and every part that may intercept 
it ; and unless there is a window directly opposite the 
one from which the wind comes, there can be no blow- 
ing of the dust out at all; it will not go out against 
the wind, it will rather be blown back. 

As to the idea that you need to raise the dust from 
the carpet, that is quite true; you want the dust out 
of the carpet, but you do not want it to fly all over 
the place. Those who object to using wet paper or 
tea leaves to lessen the dust must be under the im- 
pression that they in some way prevent the dust from 
leaving the carpet, and that they simply roll over the 
surface of the carpet. The fact is, if you sweep with 
a long, light stroke, the damp leaves will prevent the 
flue and dust from rising by taking it to themselves. 

I have mentioned only damp tea leaves, and moist- 
ened paper where the leaves might stain, because I 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 93 

prefer these myself, but others are in favor of flinging 
wet bran over the carpet, others again prefer salt. I 
will only give a word of caution as to the use of salt. 
If your room is not very sunny and dry, you may have 
the unpleasant experience of a friend of mine who, 
after a long course of weekly sweeping with salt, be- 
gan to find on certain days a very unpleasant smell in 
her parlor. In winter it had not been perceptible, 
but as the spring days came, every damp one her par- 
lor took on the disagreeable odor of a shut up " best 
room," and this one was never shut up. It was a puz- 
zle to herself and friends, no one could account for 
it, the whole house was airy and dry; the only remedy 
seemed to be a fire, — a few hours of hot fire would 
remove it, but only for a time. At last, just before 
the May cleaning, the lady put her hand one damp 
day on the carpet; when she lifted it, it was wet. She 
examined the carpet, and found it covered with a fine 
dew! Thus the odor was accounted for; every damp 
day the salt that remained in the carpet, although 
quite invisible, " gave.'' 

I Jcnotv this story to be true. Whether it would be 
possible by the most thorough sweeping to remove 
every bit of so fine a substance as salt from a Brussels 
carpet I will not say, but we know, by the heavy dew 
a very tiny sprinkling of salt on an exposed surface 
will' cause in wet weather, that the amount required 
to produce dampness in a carpet would be very small. 
I must also say I have known carpets to be continually 
swept with salt with no such unpleasant results, the 
difference is in the room. 



94 PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

In all carpet sweeping great care must be taken to 
brush well round the skirting board. This is the 
favorite spot for the moths to breed. Should you 
suspect their existence, lay a wet cloth, folded about 
three inches wide, on the carpet round the skirting 
board, and on this press a very hot iron. The steam 
caused by this process will kill both moth and eggs, 
and there need be no fear of injuring the carpet. I 
have said a loet cloth, because I mean more than 
merely damp, but it must not be dripping wet. A 
cloth wrung out of water as dry as you can will be 
right. 

I have, in the last number, gone into methods of 
sweeping, and my reason for preferring to sweep to 
the center of a room. In so doing I was taking for 
granted that the larger number of my readers will 
still have the old-time carpet instead of the more 
fashionable rug. Those who have these, unless they 
do away with their advantages by using " filling " or 
border, have one of the cares of housekeeping lessened. 
Large, handsome center rugs cannot easily be taken 
up and shaken every week, but they can be gone over 
thoroughly with the sweeper (and for rugs I do not 
think the broom is any improvement on the machine); 
they can then be turned some distance back towards 
the middle, and all dust swept from underneath. 

Smaller rugs can, of course, be taken up and shaken 
every week. The "Wilton, felt, or ingrain "fillings " 
often used, add to the work very much, as they show 
every speck, being of solid color and in a dusty street, 
seem to require sweeping every day to be really bright. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 95 

Wilton filling should not be swept at the same time as 
the rug it surrounds, which has usually some lighter 
colors, and the flue from these will attach itself to the 
darker pile. Sweep the rug first and take up the dust, 
then go round the room to sweep the filling or border. 

If any reader is hesitating between rugs and car- 
pets, let me advise rugs for every reason, but without 
the filling. By having a rug with a filling round it 
you have compromised between fashion, which dic- 
tates rugs, and the common deal floor, which forbids, 
or seems to do so, the use of stain. But rugs have 
more than fashion to recommend them, — they are 
healthy, cleanly, and economical. If you must cover 
boards, you do away with all three advantages. 

Now, always supposing I^am speaking to those 
about to make a change, is the diflBculty so great? If 
you are going to have handsome carpets and Wilton 
filling, I think it will cost very little more than the 
filling to have a plain hardwood border laid down. 
What is called parquet flooring is moderate in price, 
and, of course, the expense only occurs once in a life- 
time. To those whose means do not extend to this, 
and who are thinking of some lower priced border, I 
would still say, if your boards are only uneven, get a 
carpenter to smooth them; if the planks are wide apart, 
as, unfortunately, in low priced houses built a few 
years ago they often are, this same carpenter will, I 
think, for less by far than your filling would cost, lay 
in narrow slats, so that you may stain and shellac, and 
the result be very good. (Eecipes for staining, etc., 
will be given in the chapter on Housecleaning.) 



96 PBOGBESSIVU HOUSEKEEPING. 

If your boards are gray with being for years under 
carpet, let me give you a hint. I was visiting, some 
years ago, at the house of a well known artist, at 
Chelsea (London), and was struck by the color of the 
floors of halls, stairs, and rooms. It looked a beauti- 
ful gray wood, with markings paler and darker. I 
was puzzled for a moment to know what kind of wood 
it could be, for it was not well joined and the grain 
was not that of a hardwood, when all at once it 
dawned on me, — the artist had simply utilized the 
coloring which time and bad scrubbing had given. 
The house was old — not for Chelsea ; it was new by 
the side of Carlyle's in the next street, but at least 
forty or fifty years old; the floors had not the wide 
interstices we are too familiar with, but it had been 
intended for carpet, and no special care had been taken 
with it. Then, as they were always covered, they 
had not had the vigorous scrubbing that the boards 
meant to be visible in England are always subjected 
to, and the artist had done nothing to improve their 
defects, but had simply had them polished, probably 
shellacked and rubbed down once or twice, then fin- 
ished, but the effect was harmonious and beautiful. 

If you have hardwood floors, or the simply stained 
and shellacked pine, the whole beauty and freshness 
of the room will depend on their being kept bright 
and free from dust ; sweeping with a hair broom every 
morning and washing once a week will secure this, 
except in long dry spells, or if there is much coal dust 
in winter, when a damp cloth must follow the broom 
when the latter is insufficient to remove the dusty ap- 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 97 

pearance, but never in this or any other case allow 
the damp cloth to replace a broom. Too many ser- 
vants think they need not sweep the floors or oilcloth 
if they are going to wash it ; the result is a cloudy, 
half -cleaned look. Once in a while, every fourth week 
perhaps, the water used for washing stained or hard- 
wood floors should be hot, and have a tablespoonful 
of turpentine and the same of oil in it, the cloth be 
wrung out of this and used to wipe the floors. Light- 
wood floors, ash, etc., are brightened by the use of 
skimmed milk instead of water. 

After sweeping the carpet, go over the ceiling and 
walls with a clean duster tied over a broom, if you 
have not the proper holder. If you have rugs and 
stained floors, do this before washing them. Then 
clean windows, brushing the outside shutters carefully 
and wash the sills outside. This should always be 
done unless the weather is very severe, but every 
sweeping day without exception go over the inside of 
the windows with a dry duster, carefully dusting 
sashes and sills. A great deal of smoke from the 
closed house remains on windows in severe weather 
and dims them, but it will all come off with a dry 
cloth. 

Mirrors should receive the same weekly attention. 
A small sponge dipped in alcohol quickly rubbed over 
the whole surface, which is then polished, is the 
easiest way; but the usual damp cloth and chamois is 
only a few minutes' work, after which daub a little 
powdered indigo tied up in muslin over the glass ; it 
will add brilliancy to the surface. 



98 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

The frames of pictures, tops of doors, etc., should 
be dusted with a feather duster, and this brings me 
to the question of dusting. 

This should always be very thorough at least once 
a week, and clean soft cloths (cheese cloth makes 
excellent dusters) used for the purpose — not the 
feather duster which is very useful in its place, but 
is not by any means to replace a cotton duster. 
All tables and wooden furniture should be gone over 
daily with a soft cotton duster, and a slight rub 
accompanying the motion; so treated, furniture im- 
proves with age. This one rub daily as the duster 
passes over it will be an immense amount of rubbing 
in the course of years, and the articles will get brighter 
and smoother with time, and yet never have had 
one hour's labor bestowed; while, if the feather dus- 
ter were used entirely, the highly polished furniture 
will get dull in a year or two and need repolishing, 
and furniture which has never been polished be- 
comes more dull. Use the duster also for the window 
sashes, ledges of the doors, and, in fact, the wood- 
work generally. 

The feather duster saves much time in the daily 
dusting of bric-a-brac and light articles, which, how- 
ever, as I have said, once a week should be moved. 
The feather duster is a favorite implement with ser^. 
vants and its use is so abused that I have sometimes 
thought it might be best to interdict its use altogether, 
when I have seen a maid go round a room and with a 
feather duster flick the dust from one object to another 
(removing none, but simply changing its place), and 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 99 

in a few seconds pass out of the room to repeat the ope- 
ration elsewhere. In its proper place it is invaluable. 



PROGRAmME; OF -WORK. 

(fok qenebal daily woek see progkamme no. 1.) 
SPECIAL WORK FOE PRIDAT. 

See to the odds and ends in the larder; try out the 
week's fat; make broth of bones; make stew or hash 
of odds and ends of meat. 

If fine pastry is needed, make it for use next day. 

Sweep the lower floor; give everything a thorough 
beating and dusting; clean all fine brasses. 

Clean windows, mirrors, etc. Dust picture frames 
with feather duster and replace ornaments. 

If weather permits, brush the outside blinds and 
window sills. 

TO CLEAN" BRAS3. 

If the brass is much tarnished, scour first with vine- 
gar and salt, or wood ashes very finely powdered and 
mixed with water or kerosene. If you use the vine- 
gar, wash with clean hot suds as soon at the tarnish 
is removed, then polish with whitening and leather, 
but unless badly stained avoid the acid. 

Eemember that all metals cleaned with acids tar- 
nish again much more quickly than if cleaned with- 
out. For brasses cleaned weekly, a little oil and 
rottenstone rubbed on, and polished with dry rotten- 
stone, or simply a leather and whitening will be 
sufficient. 



100 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

TO CLEAN LIGHT PAIITT. 

For light colored paint use nothing stronger than 
warm water and soap. Always wipe dry with a clean 
cloth. This prevents any appearance of smeariness. 

TO CLEAN" DARK WOOD. 

If the woodwork is dark, not painted, but hard 
finished, go over it with a little oil and turpentine or 
alcohol mixed, using a hard brush for crevices. If 
you do not object to the odor, kerosene will do instead 
of anything else, and pass off in an hour or two. 



CHAPTER XII. 

KITCHEN WOKK IN GENEEAL. 

SATURDAY is the day on which there is a gen- 
eral finishing up. In households where there 
is no regular course of work, on this last day 
of the week there is a great bustle to get everything 
clean for Sunday. Very often in such cases, every- 
thing that can be left undone is crowded into Satur- 
day's work, making it long and arduous. Circum- 
stances have so much to do with cases, that it is 
almost presumptuous to make any sweeping asser- 
tions, and yet, unless there are strong reasons for 
leaving any work except the kitchen and its appur- 
tenances and the necessary work of the day, for the 
last day of the week, I think it is bad management. 
The kitchen closets should be emptied, the shelves 
dusted, and then wiped off with a damp cloth, (in sum- 
mer well washed with strong borax water to prevent 
ants,) and the papers changed. If you have a servant 
she will probably hanker — especially if she is German 
— for the vandyked and perforated paper sold for fac- 
ing closet shelves ; it is well to encourage any love of 
kitchen adornment, and although you may yourself 
prefer neat white paper or think home-made van- 
dykes preferable, she will not. The paper is so cheap, 
it is not worth while to damp enthusiasm by economy 



102 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

in such trifles ; but cheap as the paper is, I think 
the white enameled cloth sold for the purpose, costing 
more at first, is in the end as cheap and better ; it 
can be washed when soiled, and never hangs in tat- 
ters from some accidental rent. Some like the enam- 
eled cloth not only to face, but to cover the entire shelf, 
but unless nailed on, it curls at the edges in a short 
time ; and if nailed, dust, crumbs, and water, all find 
their way beneath. In summer, you cannot be too 
careful with kitchen closets. It will seem perhaps 
unnecessary to have closets in which the things seem 
quite free from dust, disturbed every week, but pre- 
vention is easier than cure, and so very little encour- 
agement will bring that summer plague, the red ant, 
that it is better to work before they come than to do 
double work to get clear of them. Should they come 
in spite of precaution, however, a few whole cloves 
sprinkled about the shelves is the cleanest and most 
effectual way of getting rid of them. Black ants are 
a great pest, but less difficult to get rid of, although 
as they come in the house with fruit, your cleanli- 
ness will not prevent their arrival. Wormwood laid 
about or the use of Persian insect powder will easily 
destroy them. One mode of prevention for the coun- 
try, is to allow all newly-gathered firm fruit to remain 
out-doors, on the piazza, an hour before the basket is 
brought into the house. 

I have said that the closets must all be turned out 
and cleaned every week. It depends entirely on the 
manner of doing, whether this is a great piece of 
business, keeping the kitchen in a muddle for hours. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 103 

or a very simple operation, over in an hour or less... 
Some will go to work, remove the contents of all the 
closets, cover every table and the floor with them, and 
while the closets themselves are being cleaned, chaos 
reigns. I have even known servants to take pride in 
this upturning, as a proof of their thorough cleanli- 
ness ; but the work can be quite as thoroughly done 
without any such nuisance. Begin with the top shelf, 
.' remove all articles to the lower one, dust and wipe 
. the shelf, lay in a sheet of clean paper, dust and re- 
place each article ; then do the same to the other 
shelves. 

All tin bowls, pails, and articles, except those used 
for baking, should be scoured bright. All coppers, 
brasses or nickel-plated articles should be also made 
to shine their brightest. Nothing, after a polished 
range and bright fire, adds so much to the sense of 
cheerfulness in a kitchen as bright metals, and cer- 
tainly nothing speaks so strongly of industry. Let 
me hasten to say in parenthesis, that although I 
speak of the appropriate ornament bright utensils 
are to a kitchen, I by no means think an already 
over- worked woman should attempt to keep them so — 
any more than she would keep her children in white 
dresses because they are pretty. Let such a one be 
content with the cleanliness that soap and water give, 
and leave polishing to women who have helping hands. 
Before the tables are scrubbed all the cooking 
should be finished, pie and cake made ; work as far 
as possible forwarded and prepared for next day. If 
there is poultry for dinner on Sunday, have it drawn 



104 PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

and the giblets, the liver, gizzard, neck, and feet put 
on to boil for gravy, with a pint of water, a piece of 
carrot as large as your thumb, a piece of onion (a 
quarter of a medium-sized one,) a saltspoonful of salt 
and a quarter one of pepper to each set of chicken or 
duck giblets ; a quart of water to those of a turkey 
or goose and double the vegetables. Let them stew 
very slowly and well covered till the liquid is reduced 
to half. You will have from each chicken half a pint 
of strong gravy that will be a jelly next day, if the 
feet are used. This is so seldom done, however, that 
perhaps it may be well for me to tell how they are 
cleaned. 

Drop the feet, two at a time, into boiling water, 
take one out as quickly as possible, strip the outer 
skin from it, bend back each nail till it comes off, and 
the foot will be delicate and white. Do not leave 
them one moment longer in the water than you can 
help. The first one will be easiest and the skin leave 
it almost like a glove ; if you work slowly or let them 
stand in water, instead of the outer skin coming off 
it will " set" and can only be got off with the flesh. 
You will need a coarse cloth and a fork to avoid scald- 
ing your hands. 

In hot weather, after poultry is drawn, tie some 
powdered charcoal in a piece of muslin, and leave it 
inside. 

As a rule the actual cleaning of the kitchen should 
be the last thing. The pantries, larder, refriger- 
ator and cellar all may usually have the weekly clean- 
ing before the kitchen, because in carrying water. 



PBOGBESSIVl) HOUSEKEEPING. 105 

and tracking in and out, the clean kitchen will 
be soiled ; this, however, depends much on the ar- 
rangement of the house. I only suggest the order of 
such work, because I have known inexperienced 
women to do the wrong thing first, simply from lack 
of thought. The safe or larder should be washed with 
water and borax as should the refrigerator ; the last 
useful contrivance so very easily becomes malodorous, 
and imparts its odor to the articles kept within it that 
very special care is necessary. Every other day at 
least in warm weather it should be wiped out with 
cold water ; not only the bottom and shelves, but the 
moisture that condenses on the sides. Once a week 
wash it with hot water and borax, taking care that 
every spot is cleansed ; keep charcoal in the corners 
which change often. But clean as you may be, you 
will not escape the " refrigerator odor " unless care is 
taken to let things get nearly cold before putting them 
in. Fish, bacon, ham, cheese, nor any kind of cooked 
vegetable should never go into the refrigerator. Bacon 
and hams are best hung in bags ; fish may be put in 
a pail with a piece of ice wrapped in newspaper under 
it, if necessary to keep many hours. Cooked vege- 
tables will keep twenty-four hours in hot weather, if 
the safe is in a clean, airy place. Every opportunity 
should be taken of provisions being low and of occa- 
sional cool days, when they will keep in the safe, to 
open the refrigerator doors. Butter, once it has been 
on ice, cannot be taken from it without injury ; but, 
if other things favor the airing, it can be arranged 
like the fish in a pail with ice. If in spite of all, or 



106 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

from unavoidable neglect, the refrigerator does acquire 
the well known close smell, put a tablespoonful of 
ground coffee in a shovel or small pan, made very hot, 
so that the coffee will scorch, but not burn, and set it 
while smoking in the ice box, and close it ; it will re- 
move all odor and have only for a few hours that of 
burning coffee. 

If you have fortunately a nice boarded or cemented 
cellar, there will be no trouble with mop and broom 
in keeping it clean ; if, however, you have a newly 
built cottage in the suburbs, you may have a cellar 
which is neither boarded nor cemented. This is a 
very different matter to keep tidy, and a servant is 
apt to think such a cellar lias no need to be kept clean, 
that it is indeed a dumping ground for all rubbish. 

I have a friend who at the end of a three months 
illness (during every convalescing week of which she 
had asked her clean seeming servant if she cleared 
up the cellar regularly, and warned her never to allow 
anything to accumulate,) visited, with her first 
strength, her lower regions and came out appalled ; 
it seemed to her as if every egg that had been 
used since she last saw it, had its shells cast down 
those stairs, all the unused papers lay in dank pro- 
fusion, discarded lemon rinds, rags, broken crockery; 
in fact the place looked like the forlorn out-door spots 
one sees in the neighborhood of shanties. It was win- 
ter, and the maid had saved putting her head out- 
doors to the swill barrel by using the cellar, intend- 
ing no doubt to have a grand clear up before the 
lady should be well enough to explore. My friend 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 107 

was thankful she had had no vision of that cellar dur- 

ng her sick days. 
If you hare a cellar with an earth floor, sprinkle it 

requently with fine lime ; keep a box in it, and three 
jar four times a year have half a bushel of unslaked 
lime put in the box. It will slake in the air and dry 
At in doing so. The old lime is useful to throw over 
p refuse heap as an absorbent and is good for the soil. 
It is a good plan to make every dark corner of an 
-underground cellar light by putting over the soil a 
*jhick layer of lime, then if any object finds its way 

ihere it will be conspicuous without a light. 
I The ideal kitchen table is the one scrubbed to ivory 
[whiteness, and as scrubbing seems one of the lost arts, 
}I will give directions for scrubbing properly, because 

\eve it is done at all it is often just so much labor 

vasted. Nice washing with clear soap and water will 
look quite as well as bad scrubbing ; by this I mean 
the scrubbing of the average maid, which does her 
no credit, and yet, if she is industrious and willing, 
has probably cost her as hard work as if the result had 
been better. But to a woman whose own hands must 
compass all the work of the house, and who would 
naturally be careful of her own possessions, I recom- 
mend covering the kitchen table with white enameled 
cloth ; it will wear a couple of years if neatly nailed 
on ; boiling water will not mark it, nor will it readily 
stain. Of course, the use of one of the pot boards 
recommended in an early chapter will save it greatly, 
but in truth, I have found that nothing that can be 
placed on a well-kept kitchen table will hurt the 



108 PB0GBE88IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

cloth, and fruit, etc., will not stain, as it -would the 
uncovered board. It looks clean and bright while 
work is going on ; but if the kitchen is used to sit in 
after work is done, as of course it would be if a maid 
is kept, a cheerful red and white cloth to throw oveij 
it in the afternoon costs little and gives an air of cozi- 
ness and comfort. So, by the way, does a reflector 
behind the lamp — especially if it be on a bracket, the 
light will be much increased, and can be thrown to 
any desired spot without the danger of carrying the 
lamp. ' 

Now to the scrubbing. If the table is to be un 
covered it needs daily scrubbing to keep it white, but 
if scrubbed daily in the usual way it may get darker 
day by day. I have said the usual way, perhaps J 
ought to say, ''usual" so far as my observation goc 
(although I believe in parts of New England the goo'' 
old art of scrubbing is still understood) and explain' 
what that way seems to me. 

The average scrubber then has a pail half full of 
water, brush, soap, and a rag of ben the waist of an old 
dress but usually something cotton. Very often the i 
scrubbing brush is applied first with just what water 
flows from it, and it may be used with vigor and good 
will ; in other cases the cleaning cloth may be wrung 
nearly dry and passed over the table before the brush 
is applied, then the brush well soaped is used, the 
sonp and dirt making little waves wherever a brush 
has been. When the scrubbing is finished, the table 
has a dryish gray lather all over it. The water is well 
wrung out of the cloth, and the gray lather is wiped 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 109 

, ip with it — not washed off as it should be. If the 

xrubber is in earnest to have her work right she will 

/ 1 wiring her cloth again and rub it over the table once 

\jiore. This is the wrong way, yet the effort of the 

' Sest intentions, 

.' Now for the right way, by which I mean no arbi- 

Vary notion of my own, but the way women were 

. ught to scrub in the days of our grandmothers, when 

1 have snow-white boards was one of the glories of 

, Wsekeeping ; this way our mothers often knew, 

, \t probably the general use of carpets and oilcloth 

, '^ made the pride in good scrubbing die away, or 

iter only in the kitchen tables ; but the right way 

. scrubbing as in other things is the way that pro- 

■, ^/es the best results for the labor expended. 

Old flannels of all kinds should be kept for scrub- 
bing and cleaning paint — under vests, drawers, skirts, 
all come in for it. In England, where scrubbing is 
still the glory of the poorer people, cottagers vying 
with each other on the color of their boards, there is 
a coarse gray flannel made called "house-flannel," 
expressly for the purpose. Next to flannel, is old 
coarse soft linen, old kitchen towels, crash, etc. So 
necessary to good cleaning is soft absorbent material, 
that I would almost rather my maids destroy articles 
of far more value than the scrub cloths, because the 
supply is so limited, especially if we give away our 
disused underclothing. For this reason keep the sup- 
ply under your own care, see that after each using the 
cloth is dried and not thrown away until it is really 
used as long as possible. Many girls will be conscien- 



110 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING, 

tious about towels and dusters because they have 
money value, but cleaning cloths, being onlt/ rag 
they will consider may be thrown aside any time an<'j ' 
fresh ones taken. 

In addition to the soft wet cloth a dry rubber (be 
made of old Russian crash that has done service f* 
round or dish towel) should be kept ; a scrubbi"'^ 
brush of hard bristles is best, the soft excelsior brus^^ 
are of little use except for coarse paint, and brus^®^ 
made of broom straw, although not entirely satisi^®^ 
tory, are about the best one can get when bri*°' 
brushes are not to be had, or are too expensive. 

Tables that have been neglected may be blea( 
by spreading on them over night a layer of V ® 
ashes, made into a mortar-like paste, with water ;'^uM> 
next day brush it off and scrub. The same paste may 
be laid on floors when spotted with grease. 

TO SCRUB. 

Wet your soft cloth, leave plenty of water in it, 
then wet the table or surface you are scrubbing liber- 
ally with it, so that water enough remains to make a 
lather ; now with the brush scrub the way of the grain 
of the wood , paying extra attention to all gray spots. 
Now rinse the cloth, wring it very little, for you don't 
want to luipe off, but to rinse oS, the dirt you have just 
scrubbed out ; if wiped off, the dirty water is only 
smeared over the surface again. Sop up the soapy 
lather, then rinse a second time with the water; wring 
your cloth as dry as possible and go over it again, 
wringing it dry as often as it absorbs water. Last of 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. Ill 

'all, rub as dry as you can with the dry rubber ; this 
removes the last of the soiled water and helps the 
wood to dry quickly, which is a great point in making 
boards white. 

In cleaning floors never wet too large a space at 
once. If beyond the comfortable range of the arm, 
there is almost certain to be a dark circle when dry, 
showing where you leave off each piece ; because, 
being out of easy reach you have no power to scrub 
well or wipe dry. Always in using the drying cloth, 
rub it well beyond the space you are now cleaning 
over, to the one last done. 

The use of a little washing soda or borax in the water 
is excellent for boards, and if they have been neglected 
a small lump of lime in the water greatly helps to 
make them white. After tables are scrubbed attend 
to the sink, put a lump of washing soda as large as an 
egg at least, over the sink hole, and pour a kettle of 
boiling water over every part of it, using your sink 
brush to send it into all greasy parts. When the sink is 
quite free from grease, wipe off the pump. (If you are 
fortunate enough to have faucets, they of course would 
have been polished with the bright things earlier.) 

Wash, the last thing before the floor, all finger 
marks from the paint ; also the chairs if painted; the 
backs of them if caned ; the top of the flour barrel 
and the windows. Be especially careful to clean 
kitchen window sills ; so many things are put on them, 
they are more apt to be soiled than any others. Need- 
less to say that floors must always be swept before 
they are washed. 



112 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

To clean oil cloth, do not scrub it unless it has been 
badly cleaned many times, when, with the fine cor- 
rugated surface now usual, dirt, or rather the dirty 
water allowed to remain in it will have grimed it so 
that you will need to use a soft brush and scrub the 
way of the lines ; but usually, warm water, one wet 
and dry cloth are all that are needed. Oil cloth and 
paint need the wiping with a coarse dry cloth as much 
as boards, and well repay the extra trouble. Skim 
milk used in place of water to clean oil cloth gives it 
brightness and lustre. Painted floors must be treated 
just as oil cloth is. 

I have one thing more to say about the kitchen sink. 
If you put in a lump of soda weighing half pound or 
more every day or two, you will have no trouble with 
the drain pipe becoming clogged with grease. So 
large a piece will dissolve very slowly, but all the 
water that goes down will help to cleanse instead of 
soil the pipe. Whenever you have a kettle of boiling 
water that you do not need at once, pour it into the 
sink. 

We have now gone through the work of a plain 
househould for the six working days. Very much 
more goes to make up that woman's profession, 
^'housekeeping," than the mere work; yet, the order 
of that, and the way it should be done are perhaps the 
first things the novice wants to know. In future 
chapters we will go into such other questions as seem 
to bear on the questions of housekeeping, the market- 
ing, management of food, and such economies and 
contrivances as may help the housekeeper of limited 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 113 

means, and some suggestions that may be suitable to 
the ordering of larger households. 



PROORAMIdE^ OF -W^ORK. 

(Fob Gknkeal Daily Wokk See Pbogeamme No. 1.) 

SPECIAL WOEK FOE SATUEDAT. 

The first thing in the morning, thoroughly clean 
the range, remove all covers, and with a small brush 
kept for that purpose, sweep from the top of the oven 
all ashes, soot, etc. Sometimes there are parts where 
soot will lodge ; a long-handled iron spoon or short 
trowel as the case may require, will remove such col- 
lection better than anything else. Brush off cling- 
ing soot wherever you may see it ; a turkey or goose 
wing is better for this purpose than a brush. When 
all is clean, black the stove or range. If properly kept 
there will be very little grease about it. A greasy 
stove should be washed with strong suds in which 
washing soda is dissolved; do this over night if you 
have such a stove to clean. Small grease spots simply 
require a little dry stove blacking in powder sprinkled 
over them, and then quick brushing to remove them. 
If the iron is red and there is trouble in making the 
blacking adhere, use a teaspoonful of molasses or 
syrup when you mix the blacking. Mix blacking with 
water to a thin paste, using the syrup if necessary; 
rub the range all over with it, taking special care to 
go into corners, etc., then with a stiff brush begin at 



114 PB00BE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

the dryest part to polish ; the thinner the blacking 
is put on the better ; brush yigorously till every part 
is polished ; slow feeble brushing will leave it a dull 
black, not a bright one. 

Clean out closets, remove everything from one shelf, 
lay in clean paper, dust and return each article to its 
place before beginning another. In this way closet 
cleaning may be carried on without confusion ; even 
if you are interrupted in the doing, the kitchen will 
not be encumbered. 

When closets are cleansed and re-arranged, ecour 
the tins and clean all copper and brass articles. 

TO SCOFE TIKS, COPPEKS, ETC. 

Wash in hot suds then dip a wet rag in fine sifted 
coal ashes, scour well and then polish with dry ashes. 
Coppers if much stained can be cleaned with vinegar 
and salt, or oxalic acid. Put ten cents' worth of acid 
in a quart of water and bottle. Label poison in large 
letters and keep for use. It is a dangerous article, 
yet very useful to have at hand. Keep it by itself in 
some place inaccessible to children. 

Oxalic acid will clean all stains from brass or copper, 
but they require polishing with a dry powder after- 
wards. Fine ashes are as good as anything, although 
there are several inexpensive manufactured articles 
sold for the purpose which are excellent for coarse 
kitchen utensils. I mention the use of acid in clean- 
ing because it is a quick method of removing tarnish, 
but I would remind you that if stains are once re- 
moved you will have better results by cleaning with- 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 115 

out it, as after its use the brightness so quickly passes 
off. For articles regularly cleaned, therefore, I prefer 
the use of kerosene and wood ashes ; if the odor of 
kerosene is offensive, any cheap oil will answer. Wet 
a rag in oil, dip it in the ashes and go all over the sur- 
face of the copper, then dip a dry rag in the dry ashes 
and polish. Soap and sand may be used to scour tins 
if preferred to ashes, but must not be used on copper; 
the sand is too coarse. 

Clean all the entries, pantries, laundry, etc. Wash 
the shelves of the safe or larder with hot water and 
soda or borax ; clean the refrigerator in the same way, 
going all over the inside ; put fresh pieces of charcoal 
in the corners ; air if it be possible. Wash out the 
bread box, stand it in a hot place to dry thoroughly. 
Wash the finger marks from the kitchen paint, clean 
windows and sills, scrub the tables, clean up the cel- 
lar, and when all other work is done, wash or scrub 
the kitchen floor and stoop or piazza, or whatever may 
be the outside appurtenances. 

TO SCEUB. 

Use plenty of hot water and soap; a small piece 
of washing soda as large as a hickory nut, or a tea- 
spoonful of borax in it helps the work. Use the 
brush always the way of the grain of the wood ; 
take care to not scrub with the board only just moist- 
ened; use plenty of water. Rinse off the dirty water 
and dry by rinsing your cloth through, and wring 
it two or three times, finally wipe with a coarse dry 
cloth. 



116 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

TO WASH BOAEDS. 

Follow just the same process with the exception of 
using the brush. Wet the surface thoroughly first, 
then rinse the cloth, soap it, and wash the surface ; 
rinse, not wipe, off this soapy water, rinsing and 
wringing out the cloth dry as you can and wipe — 
finally go over with the drying towel. See full direc- 
tions. Chapter XII. 

This latter process for those who lack strength, is 
far better than bad scrubbing; the boards will keep 
clear and of a good color. 

TO CLEAH OIL CLOTH OR PAINTED FLOOES. 

Oil cloth should not have much water used on it ; 
keep it clear by rinsing the cloth several times. Dry 
with a drying cloth. If skim milk is plentiful, use 
it for painted floors or oil cloth in preference to water. 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

HOUSEKEEPING ON A liAEGE SCALE— SERVANTS— MAEKET- 
ING, KITCHEN FAKE, ETC. 

HITHEETO these papers have been considering 
chiefly the needs of those housekeepers who 
either work unassisted, or with one servant. 
In this paper I propose to discuss management for 
larger households. The actual work to be done differs 
only as to its divisions among several hands. The 
work to be done is the same, and done in the same 
way, only there is probably much more of it. In a 
house where three servants are required, there is often 
as much work on the lower floor alone as in a small 
house. The division of work is often a difficult mat- 
ter; for servants who profess to do one kind of work, 
do not like to share that of any other servant, although 
their own work may not be sufficient to keep them 
employed, and the one they are expected to help may 
be kept very busy. Thus the chambermaid and wait- 
ress does not like to help the nurse ; the laundress, 
even if the family washing is all out of the way be- 
fore Friday, objects to sweep or nurse or wait, and 
the cook will decline to do anything out of her own 
province, and yet, unless your family is so large, or 
you live in such a way as to warrant the employment 
of a full staff of servants, some such doubling of 



118 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

duties must be, therefore when you engage, have a 
very well defined understanding on the point. 

Many ladies are vague as to what each maid will be 
required to do beyond what she may consider her own 
work, and maids will often engage to do what they 
really mean to shirk as far as possible. 

A distinct understanding at first, and an intimation 
that each servant will be held responsible for the work 
she has undertaken, is the best way to avoid the an- 
noyance of disputes between servants later. 

It is well to have a list of the weekly duties of each 
servant, which you read to her when engaged ; have 
a copy of this list for each. If possible, write the list 
in the order in which you wish the work done. It 
will be an assistance to the servants, and dispute be 
impossible between themselves, or any excuse for mis- 
understanding of orders, only, let everything of this 
sort be done at the very beginning. Of course you 
can avoid doing this unpleasantly, and a servant who 
would take umbrage at what is for her own assistance, 
is not one who will be worth regretting the loss of, 
for it will show she lacks sense. 

DIVISION OF WORK. 

The division of the work is the question on which 
many housekeepers are in doubt, and it is very diflB- 
cult to give rules that will apply to all cases ; the 
presence of an invalid in the family, the fact that the 
children are all very young, perhaps an infant, with 
the one older only able to toddle, or many other 
things, may cause any given set of rules to be quite 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 119 

useless. But every woman must judge for herself 
whether her house presents any exception to general 
rules and arrange accordingly. 

In a family where there is a plain cook, chamber- 
maid and nurse, the cook will do the family washing; 
if it is large, the chambermaid should assist while the 
cook gets the meals, which without being makeshift, 
should be as simple on that day as possible, but paren- 
thetically, I will say that many think by having steak 
or chops and vegetables they are saving the cook ; 
really a roast Joint is far less hindrance and trouble. 
Sometimes the chambermaid cooks breakfast and 
lunch ; this I do not think a good plan. The really 
better way, if economy is not rigidly necessary, is, if 
the washing is too much for the cook to do and attend 
to the meals for that day, to have a woman to assist. 
This leaves the chambermaid free to do her usual 
work, and on Monday, as I have elsewhere said, a gen- 
eral picking up and dusting is advisable ; she will 
also be as neat as usual to answer the door and wait 
at table. With the ironing she can assist the cook 
after her usual work on Tuesday. Of course if you 
are fortunate enough to find and can afford to pay, 
a thoroughly good cook, she cannot be expected to 
do more than her own and the kitchen washing, 
by which I mean the towels, cloths, dusters, etc. 
If your table requires the services of an expert cook, 
she would have no time. But although I fully recog- 
nize the right of a woman who has really fitted her- 
self to take a place as an excellent cook (by which I 
mean that she can make fine soups, entrees, sauces. 



130 PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

and pastry without your superintendence) to receive 
high wages and be exempt from washing, I deprecate 
such conditions being given, as they often are, to a 
woman who is really only a better kind of general 
servant (sometimes not a detter kind). I remember 
visiting a friend, who said in course of conversation: 

^' I believe I'm going to have peace now. I have 
engaged a first-class cook. I have to pay her $25 a 
month, but then she knows her work without my 
going down to oversee everything that is not of the 
simplest kind. I've been almost worn out. Of course 
she won^t do the washing, I must put that out, but 
ril economize in every other way to make up." 

I- congratulated my friend on her resolve ; she was 
not strong, and with the table she enjoyed having for 
her husband, it did not seem to me that the $25 or 
so a month which the extra wages and washing would 
cost, was ill spent. The new cook arrived, my friend 
ordered a simple dinner, — vermicelli soup, breaded 
cutlets, roast chicken and apple pie. The new cook 
said, reading the list, 

*'How do you make the vermicelli soup, ma'am ?" 

Alas ! for my friend's hopes. However, a recipe 
was handed to her and she was left to her own de- 
vices. 

The soup at dinner was fairly good family soup, not 
at all clear, with vermicelli broken in it ; evidentlj 
she did not know how it should have been. The cut- 
lets were a sorry spectacle ; they had been breaded, 
but the bread had refused to remain on. The chicken 
was fairly roasted, and the pie, a good one for a family 



PBOGEESSIVE HO USEKEEPING. VZ 1 

of children ; the crust looked like paper, was about a 
quarter of an inch thick, hemmed all round the edge 
and pricked over with a fork. In fact the dinner was 
just such as a good general servant, or plain cook, at 
114 a month would have served. 

The moral of this little story is that while I would 
not grudge high wages for good work, I would strongly 
object to pay them unless I was sure I was not re- 
warding the self-assertion of an ignorant person. 
Some time I hope to go into this subject more fully, 
for I believe very much more of the servant difficulty 
depends on this point than most people think. 

With regard to the servants' washing ; unless a 
laundress forms part of your establishment, when, of 
course, she will do that of the whole family, the 
chambermaid and nurse will do their own, each at 
such times as you may fix for them. The chamber- 
maid takes care of the children while the nurse washes, 
and she can iron in the evening. If your children 
are very young and the nurse takes entire charge, it 
is better to arrange, when you engage the cook, for 
her to wash for the nurse, and let the latter do the 
children's flannels, laces, etc. 

The chambermaid, of course, takes charge of the 
whole upper part of the house, waits at table, cleans 
silver, is responsible for the front steps, door and 
vestibule, and washes the glass, silver and fine china; 
the greasy dishes go down to the cook. 

If an indoor man servant is kept he relieves the 
chambermaid of many of these duties. He takes 
charge of the butler's pantry, washing all china and 



122 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

glass, cleans silver, waits at table and, if you engage 
him as waiter, and pay him the wages for a good one, 
he should be a good carver, able to prepare salads, 
and understand the service of wines, etc. 

The chambermaid, relieved of table duties, may be 
expected to help the nurse, so that she may sew, or 
you may prefer to leave the nurse to her duties, letting 
her keep the children's clothes in order, while the baby 
sleeps, and the chambermaid you may require to keep 
the house linen in order or assist in some other way. 

One thing be sure to do. Have everything very 
clearly defined in your own mind, just what you want 
done and whom you want to do it, before attempting 
to arrange with your servants ; any doubt or vague- 
ness yo7i may have in giving directions, will surely be 
reflected in their actions. 

I have heard ladies say, " I can't make such condi- 
tions before I engage servants ; they would not come 
to me." This is, I am sure, a mistake. Many ser- 
vants will agree to more than they intend to carry 
out, and very few who are worth having would refuse 
a place because you make your conditions known to 
them, provided they are reasonable, but if they are 
engaged without the clear understanding, you very 
likely will have trouble after ; they will probably look 
on all they are asked to do outside of their special 
duties as an imposition. 

A successful housekeeper of my acquaintance always 
engaged her three servants with the proviso that they 
miglit be required to cook, to wash, to wait at table, 
to do, in short, anything that they were asked; in 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 133 

fact she engaged them all as general servants, although 
she divided the work of her house as other people do. 
I don't recommend the experiment, I only mention 
it because she never had more difficulty in finding ser- 
vants to take her place than other people ; if some 
refused, others accepted, and more willing servants or 
a better ordered house I never saw. 

Of course really expert servants will not engage in 
this way, but there are very few of them, and they 
require very high wages, which, if they are what they 
profess to be, will generally be cheerfully paid. 

Where the servants are as many or nearly as many 
as the family, it is more economical to have a separate 
table ; especially is this the case where the heads of 
the family like small dishes, such as birds, entrees, 
etc., etc. But not only is it advisable from the point 
of economy, but it makes the evening work lighter. 
The servants have their tea at five or half past five, 
the cook and waitress then have nothing to do but to 
wash up after the family dinner, while if they wait 
until the family have dined before they get their meal, 
it makes very late work. With an intelligent and 
obliging cook every one is more comfortable with this 
arrangement. 

The most economical and satisfactory way of carry- 
ing out this plan is for the kitchen dinner to form the 
family luncheon. This saves cooking two mid-day 
meals and ensures contentment, for what is good 
enough for your own eating will not be objected to 
by your servants, as, with their over^sensitiveness as a 
class, might be the case. 



124 PEOGBESSIVJE HOUSEKEEPING. 

For those who may not be experienced in this plan 
of housekeeping, I will give a few bills of fare in- 
tended to combine the family lunch and servants' din- 
ner. On days that such viands as corned beef or 
roast pork are recommended, if there are young child- 
ren dining, there may be a chop for each provided, 
a little finely chopped steak made into cakes and 
broiled, or there may have been some little thing left 
from your own evening dinner that can be nicely pre- 
pared. It is in these small things that your good 
management will be shown. 

I want to say here that I do not think it right or 
good economy to buy poor food for the kitchen, but 
if you have a family of hearty working people to pro- 
vide for, you will be wise to buy such parts of meat 
as will cut to the best advantage ; but although for 
this purpose, what may be called the prime cuts will 
not be purchased, the meat itself should be of the 
best quality. Indeed, an inferior joint of fine beef 
or mutton is better eating than the choicest cuts of 
inferior meat. 

Abundance of good, nourishing, palatable food is 
what those who work require, and no one will hesitate 
to say that a hearty meal, a well cooked chuck roast, 
although it may cost only fourteen cents a pound, is 
better food than the remains of say a pair of chickens 
or a quarter of young lamb, after serving five or six 
people up stairs. Yet when the kitchen family is ex- 
pected to dine after the dining-room, sometimes a 
very scanty repast remains, not because sufficient 
money is not expended, but because the viands are of 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 135 

an unsuitable kind. I am so anxious not to be mis- 
understood on this point, not to be supposed to ad- 
yocate a stinted housekeeping, that I want to make 
it quite plain that I do not advocate your providing 
as if for an inferior class of beings, but just as the 
keeper of a boarding house or large school would 
provide. 

I have known ladies sensitive on this point who 
would say, " I like my servants to live just as well 
as I do. I give them the same as we eat ourselves," 
and buy seven or eight pounds of spring chicken for 
a family of ten, — five up stairs and five down ; the 
cost would be from $3 to $4, and, at best of times, 
the kitchen would get a slight meal of a dainty, at 
which they grumbled, but as this particular family 
were living in the city, unexpected visitors to lunch 
were frequent, and then imagine the debris that would 
go into the kitchen. Granted that there was a little 
fish or soup besides to eke it out, and vegetables, so 
that no one need go hungry, the grumbling and dis- 
content was the same, and the grumblers felt stinted, 
and yet abundant roast beef or mutton might have 
been bought for less money. 

MAEEETINQ. 

Then your marketing must be according to the sea- 
son. I would not advise an inexperienced woman to 
go down to Fulton or Washington market alone to 
provide for her family, if she lives in New York, but 
I would suggest that a few lessons in marketing be 
taken from one of the teachers of cooking who have 



136 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

classes for this purpose ; the money expended would 
be saved over and over again in a very short time. 
Some gentlemen understand the markets admirably, 
and when they are willing to send up supplies their 
wives are very fortunate. 

To either the housekeeper who has taken lessons, 
or the fortunate one with a husband skilled in such 
matters, I would say, watch the market prices and 
buy accordingly. 

Sometimes turkeys are as cheap as any other good 
meat. In spring, lamb, of course, should not be 
bought for hungry people, but in fall, forequarter of 
lamb is only twelve cents the pound, and is substantial 
food without being so fat as mutton. Leg of mutton 
at fourteen cents is cheaper than forequarter at twelve, 
because it is all meat. 

And now, as I shall give in the bills of fare roast 
pork, let me say a few words about that meat. 

In this country, where it is the cheapest of all 
meat, roast pork is often a rarely used and despised 
dish, except by G-ermans and Irish. In English cities, 
where pork is the most expensive meat, a loin costing 
more per pound than sirloin of beef, where pork 
sausages are twenty-two cents to twenty-four cents a 
pound, while beef sausages (a favorite dish with Lon- 
don working people) are twelve cents to sixteen cents, 
pork is looked upon as a great treat. Is it only be- 
cause it is cheap here that it is despised? I know 
many believe it to be unwholesome ; is not this, too, 
partly prejudice ? There are some people certainly 
who cannot eat pork, but there are also some to whom 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 127 

Yeal is almost poison. As to its wholesomeness, I 
think we ought to look at the people who almost live 
on it — the English agricultural population, the Ger- 
mans, who in their various sausages eat it in all forms. 
Where are there healthier people than those English 
or those Germans ? look at the children who, from 
the time they are weaned, eat daily such fat pork 
as would make one shudder to think of ; in English 
rural districts it is not an occasional, but a steady 
diet, day after day all the year round. At the road- 
side, sitting on the mossy banks that flank the fields 
they are tilling, may be seen laborers with a hunch of 
bread and a thick slice of pork or of bacon on the 
top of it, solid fat, and' a '' thumb piece " (a small 
piece of bread that the thumb rests on), while they 
cut down through fat and bread with their knives. 
This, with perhaps a raw onion and a drink of beer, 
is their daily dinner year in and year out, but do you 
suppose they know any thing of dyspepsia ? I don't 
think many of them ever heard the word, and one 
look at the ruddy skin, the strong frames even of 
their old people will tell you that. Of course the out- 
door life makes a difference, but the school children 
are the rosiest and chubbiest. Take at random any 
group of these pork fed children and there will not 
be a sickly one among them. 

When these girls and boys go to London, as in these 
days most do, they take places where there is abun- 
dant fresh meat; fare such as they never dreamed of, 
and the one thing they crave is their country pork, 
not that pork is not eaten in London, but it is expen- 



128 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

sive, and is not the "pickled*' pork with several 
inches of fat, they love so well. In the baskets of 
country women visiting city friends, is always a piece 
of this pickled pork and sometimes a piece of bacon 
is packed and brought away in a trunk. 

To the London working classes, roast leg or loin of 
pork stuffed, is the next luxury to roast goose, and 
the working people, if they cannot afford a goose, take 
pork and sage and onions for a Christmas dinner as the 
next best thing, roast beef or mutton being the usual 
Sunday dinner and therefore not a " treat." 

I suppose there are no hardier, healthier races in 
the world than the English and Germans, especially 
the country people ; both are largely pork fed. 

I should perhaps state that I speak only from ob- 
servation. I have no scientific knowledge on the sub- 
ject. Pork takes its place in my family in change 
with other meats, and we know nothing of dyspepsia, 
which we might do if the American climate made the 
use of pork unadvisable. 

Another thing urged against pork is that the pig is 
an uncleanly feeder, but no one says this of that dainty 
bird the chicken. Is there any filth a pig would eat 
that a chicken would not ? Do not chickens revel in 
offal ? Can there be a more uncleanly feeder ? If it 
is the food of the animal that unfits it for use, then 
the chicken must come under that ban. 

I know people who tell me they have never eaten 
fresh roast pork. If there are any among my readers 
who do not yet know the excellence of roast leg of 
pork with the crackling neatly scored and crisped, 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 139 

stuffed with bread, sage and boiled onions, and eaten 
with apple sauce, let her buy one, and roast it till it is 
brown as a chestnut, and perhaps she will thank me 
for persuading her. Perhaps in her house Mrs. Poy- 
ser's "stuffed chine" may come to hold a place of 
honor as a savory joint to have on hand. 

I have said thus much on the pork question, be- 
cause I would like to set people thinking on this cheap 
and good meat and ask themselves how far their dis- 
like of pork m any other form than ham or bacon 
comes from knowledge, and how much from prejudice 
against it as a vulgar dish. It is not, of course, ele- 
gant, any more than is roast goose, but it is very tooth- 
some. One word more about it, it must le thorouglily 
cooked. Half an hour to the pound is not too much 
to allow. 

BILLS OF PAEE FOE FAMILY LUNCHEON- AND KITCHEN 
DINNEE. 

1. Eoast beef (second joint rib roast is excellent), 
mashed turnips, baked potatoes, cottage pudding, 
foaming sauce. 

2. Soup, cold roast beef, canned corn or tomatoes, 
potatoes mashed and browned (salad for dining-room), 
pickles down stairs, apple pie. 

3. Roast leg of mutton, stewed onions, potatoes 
browned under meat, rice pudding. 

4. Corned beef, cabbage, carrots, potatoes, baked 
Indian pudding. A little dish of minced mutton 
with rice border, from the cold mutton makes a nice 
children's dish. 



130 PBOGBESSIVE HOU,SEKEEPING. 

5. Soup (made from bones of roast beef and mut- 
ton witb a ten cent soup bone), cold corned beef (salad 
for up stairs), pickles or cold slaw, bread pudding, 
lemon sauce. 

6. Roast pork, sweet potatoes, rice, apple sauce, 
waffles or a boiled pudding. 

Of course I only give these bills of fare in the way 
of suggestion. Each housekeeper knows the pecu- 
liarities of her own family, and can avoid such viands 
as are objected to. I have given such food as suits 
the winter months, for which reason I have put salad 
for up stairs only, as it is in winter costly. However 
plain this fare may seem for luncheon, I think it will 
be found preferable to the chops and steaks which 
are too often depended upon, and which leave no mar- 
gin for unexpected visitors. With a substantial roast 
Joint on the table, no one can take you by surprise 
and you will not be wondering what will be left for 
down stairs, if you know you have only ordered just 
about enough chop or steak for the family. And 
even with a dish of cold meat, a soup and a salad, if 
all be prettily served (that, of course, you must insist 
on), the meat cut very thin and garnished, you will 
not need to blush for your table. 
. I have in my mind a family of eight, four up stairs 
and four down. In buying a roast of beef for such 
a family it is cheaper to buy one of twelve pounds and 
to cut off the flat end and have it corned, than one 
of eight and roast it whole. The end piece, corned and 
pressed, is very nice for kitchen tea or breakfast, while 
the solid nine pounds or so you have roasted is all 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 131 

available meat. If there is only partly enough of any 
joint for the second day's dinner, it may be made up 
with fish or Hamburg steak; Hamburg steak is the 
juicy side of the round steak chopped very fine, all 
gristle removed, made into cakes an inch thick, 
highly seasoned and broiled. (If the chopping is 
done at the butcher's you will be likely to get the 
veiny side of the round instead of the tender one). 

Of course you will instruct your cook that she must 
carve the meat for dinner down stairs just as carefully 
as it is done up stairs. I have seen a fine sirloin roast 
leave the dining-room with only the tenderloin eaten, 
and after the kitchen dinner of four persons, there 
was nothing but the flap end, the bone and a strew of 
hacked bits of meat. Each had been allowed to hack 
a piece off — cutting across the joint and rejecting 
every morsel but the solid lean. 

The cook is mistress of the kitchen and should pre- 
side at the table. If possible a room off the kitchen 
should be appropriated for the meals, and every proper 
article provided for comfort. This room cannot 
always be allowed, but insist that the table be laid 
properly, and that the cook serve the meals hot and 
comfortable. Some cooks are very disagreeable on 
this point ; if they are, you will' surely have discontent 
among the other servants. 

KITCHEN BEEAKFAST. 

Give the cook to understand that cold roast joints 
are never to be touched the first day, either to make 
hash or be cut for kitchen breakfast : a nice com- 



133 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

fortable woman will save her odds and ends and once 
or twice a week make a stew or hash, but you may 
have some such rule as this: 

Monday — Eggs (if cheap). 
Tuesday — Fish balls. 
Wednesday — Sausage. 
Thursday — Ham or bacon. 
Friday — Picked up cod. 
Saturday — Liver. 
Sunday — Stewed beef kidney. 

Baked potatoes, or hot cakes or corn bread each 
morning ; where there is a cow, oatmeal, etc. 

Of course often the remains of two joints will make 
hash. On your daily visit to the larder or safe, you will 
see what remains there are and suggest to your cook 
such use, if she is not quick at such things. If you 
interest yourself to see that your servants have the 
comfort you intend, it will generally ensure it, and if 
the cook will not take the trouble to make the best use 
of things for her fellow servants sake, discharge her. 

Allow for the kitchen a certain amount of tea for 
the week, assure yourself that it is ample, and then 
give the cook to understand that it is to last. Let it 
be of good quality, for a servant's tea is a great com- 
fort ; without some limit, however, it is one of the 
things often greatly wasted. As I said, be sure there 
is no stint in your household, but let it be known that 
you know exactly how far things should go and that 
you notice any excess. There seems to be a ten- 
dency among servants, when they get where there is 



PROGBESSJVE HOUSEKEEPING. 133 

an abundance, to revel in waste, everything is used 
profusely, and this is especially the case with those 
who have never known what plenty was. You must 
therefore, impress them with the knowledge that 
although you allow plenty, you tolerate no waste. 

With regard to the kitchen tea. If there has been 
meat twice before in the day, bread and butter and 
cheese with baked apples or stewed dried fruit in win- 
ter, fresh fruit in summer are sufficient. When eggs 
are cheap, if you choose, they may be used, or the 
before named pressed boiled beef may be used, or in 
place of the fruit you may choose to keep a ham or a 
piece of cold meat (cold stuffed chine) to cut on, the 
cook of course, cutting it, and seeing that it is 
properly used. If you are dining out, hot cakes or 
waffles may be indulged in without interfering with 
the dinner. I should have stated before that the 
chambermaid usually prepares the table for tea. 

A supply of pickles, spiced fruits, etc., should be 
put up in summer and fall if possible for the kitchen; 
when it is not done it is well to buy them, giving a 
bottle out from time to time. Such things do not 
cost much, and add much to the comfort and content- 
ment of those who serve you. Of course the costlier 
imported articles, canned vegetables, etc., are kept 
for dining-room use ; you give them out as they are 
wanted. 

Whatever remains of your evening dinner will not 
be touched after it leaves the table unless there is 
some perishable dish you do not wish kept, such as 
certain jellies or ice-cream, etc. The cook is respon- 



134 PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

sible for the meat, the waiter or waitress for fruits, 
olives, confectionery, etc. 

It is here that you will find the advantage of the 
middle day dinner. The children will probably have 
had tea with the nurse, and if not in bed will only come 
down to a light dessert. With soup, a little piece of 
fish, a partridge or chicken or sweetbreads, an entree 
(if your cook can compass it), salad, cheese, and des- 
sert, you have a dainty little dinner, and if you have 
either of the birds named, and there aro only two to 
dine, you have a salmi or fricassee as entree for next' 
night, or else a breakfast dish. Also if the fish is not 
all used, it will serve up with white sauce and chopped 
eggs, or else can be scalloped; this can be done if only 
two good tablespoonfuls remain. Having provided 
excellently for your kitchen, you will have no scruple 
in ordering everything of this sort to be saved, or in- 
quiring for it if it does not appear. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

HOUSEHOLD ECONOMT. 

I SPOKE in the last chapter about the advisability 
of providing substantial fare for the kitchen. 
Very many shrink from doing this with some sort 
of feeling that it is mean to do it. Especially is this 
the case where the housekeeper has for some years of 
her life perhaps, kept only one servant. Naturally, 
in such a case the maid lives as the family does — to 
make a distinction in the food of one person would be 
more trouble than profit, and therefore not necessary 
on the score of economy, and yet even here, much de- 
pends on the servant. A self-respecting young woman 
who would use our lusuries as we used them, may 
safely be left to her own discretion, and to help her- 
self to cake or preserves, or whatever dainties we affect, 
and ourselves be saved the business, so annoying to a 
sensitive housekeeper, of laying restrictions. I have 
known in my experience more servants who did not 
abuse such freedom than those who Lave abused it ; 
but when, either from ignorance or greediness, such 
liberty cannot be given, the line must be firmly drawn 
even for one. When a can of peaches or choice pre- 
serves, only one-third or less used in the dining- 
room, is emptied at one meal in the kitchen, or a pot 
of jelly, just opened and a spoonful or two used, is 
seen no more, the cake eaten in place of bread — in 



136 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

short, when it is evident Delia makes the luxuries the 
staple part of her food, she must be, humiliating as it 
is to do it — "allowanced/' the saucer of preserve ap- 
portioned, the piece of cake, or the pickles laid aside, 
and. the remainder put away, or, in the case of rare 
dainties, the rich pound cake kept only for *^ high- 
days and holidays," or the candies, macaroons, choice 
fruit, which the right kind of a girl would understand 
are to be left unless specially given to her, you must, 
if you have the wrong girl, put away yourself. Ser- 
vants in large families know this ; indeed if she did 
but know it, the one maid in a small cottage, who 
shares everything with the master and mistress thereof, 
comes in for more of the good things of life than her 
compeer in the elegant mansion, where although there 
may be every comfort, there must be less of the free- 
dom of home than in a small family. 

The general servant who will not bear the least 
rebuke for neglect of duty, from the kind mis- 
tress of a small house, will work hard and cheer- 
fully, take fault-finding meekly, and often, if the 
lady is an over economical manager, fare badly if 
the house is in Fifth avenue or of similar distinc- 
tion. Then again with the servants in hotels, there 
is often, I am told, despite the abundance and the 
waste of the dinijig-room, a severe economy exercised 
in the victualing of the large staff of servants who 
never taste the best quality of anything. This I do 
not know from personal observation, but I do know 
that the chambermaids, scrubbing girls, etc., at one 
first-class hotel where I was staying a few years ago. 



PBOGBESSIFJE HOUSEKEEPING. 137 

had their sleeping quarters in dark airless cubby holes, 
that in no private family would be considered possible 
to use as' rooms under any consideration. It made 
one ill to think of what those closets must have been 
in hot weather. The mistress of a private family, i| 
she had to ask her maid to unmake a bed or change 
the arrangements of a room after the day's work was 
done, would be full of regret, sometimes a little afraid 
to tell her necessity, and although Delia may be good 
natured enough about it for once, she certainly would 
not like her evenings disturbed a second or third 
time, although her light daily work will not have 
fatigued her; but the hotel servant, or indeed those 
in a large boarding-house, will cheerfully obey the 
order to make ready three or four rooms just vacated, 
change mattresses and bedsteads perhaps to other 
rooms, and this at the end of a day in which every 
minute has been full of work. How account for 
these things ? Is it that human nature is meek under 
the conditions of a hard toilful life, and rebellious 
under better fortune? 

It is very curious, and perhaps matter for thought, 
as explaining the reason why women will be bullied 
and ground down and defrauded by a firm, or bullied, 
ill-fed and miserably housed as servants in a hotel, 
and bear it meekly, who yet would rebel at the mild 
objurgation of a private employer. 

When I began this little talk about the peculiarities 
of servants, I meant to point out that though we may 
choose to provide the same food for kitchen and din- 
ing-room with one or two servants, in providing a 



138 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING, 

separate table, if with a larger household it be found 
desirable, there is no meanness, if the table be one 
that will better supply the substantial food required 
for manual work than the lighter fare adapted to se- 
dentary life. Nor is there any meanness in insisting 
that due economy shall be exercised. No great busi- 
ness establishment, hotel, steamboat, or any other 
requiring the providing of food for a great number of 
employes, could be properly carried on without such 
regulations as prevent waste. 

Before dismissing the servant question, I would be 
understood as advocating, where means are ample, the 
employment of sufficient servants to do the work with- 
out worry to the mistress, and paying for efficiency if 
it is to be got. Often a woman with wide social 
duties, a large house and a family with two or three 
children, will be quite as worried and worn out physi- 
cally, as another poorer woman with one inadequate 
servant and several children, who wonders what her 
wealthier neighbor with three servants can find to 
do. I will tell her. She has three servants, but she 
ought perhaps to have four, because the nurse's time 
is of course required entirely for the children. Her 
husband, because he can give his wife this beautiful 
house and servants, naturally expects to have good 
dinners and very many other things that a poorer man 
equally well able to enjoy them, knows he must do 
without. If his wife does her best with his small in- 
come she can do no more. The seeming more easily 
placed woman has to supplement perhaps each of her 
maids, her cook is what has come to be understood as 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 139 

*'a plain cook," which means too often that she can 
make one soup, can put meat in the oven and make 
a very poor pie or pudding. If more is wanted, if 
dressing for poultry that shall be something more than 
a wet pudding, flavored (sometimes not) with pepper, 
salt and onion, the lady must make it herself, or stand 
by (far more fatiguing to nerves, although the better 
plan) while it is being made. She must make any 
but plain cake, and often to help the cook through, 
she does even that, pastry too, and any little nicety 
that may be wanted for dinner she must make. If 
the chambermq,id is busy she helps her (and if the 
family consists of six or seven beside servants, the 
chambermaid will be busy very often), and then the 
mistress lays the table, dusts the fine things, often 
sweeps, makes beds — anything to help through, so 
that each week the work may be done and not allowed 
to lap over. The nurse does (perhaps) some sewing, 
the mistress does the rest ; she; too, often thinks that 
having several servants, she ought not to employ a 
seamstress except at times of great pressure ; if she 
is one of the women who like to have dainty surround- 
ings from children's clothes to the odds and ends 
about the house, she will find her needle always busy, 
but in addition to this, just because she is well off, she 
will have many calls on her time of which her less 
prosperous neighbor would know nothing. She is 
asked to do charitable or church work as well as give 
money, and with many such woman this work is one 
of the most onerous of duties. Then, because she 
has a large house, she probably has many visitors, and 



140 PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

is expected to receive calls and to make them. The 
lastj however, if systematically done, need not be a 
severe tax. The receiving, unless she has strength of 
character enough to have an open afternoon, and ad- 
here to it, refusing herself to all casual callers, (a very 
difficult thing to do without giving offence, yet it 
should not be so) is a great devourer of time. The 
endeavor to do all these things, and the many others 
I have not specified, which every woman will know 
for herself, is what wears this well-to-do fortunate 
housekeeper out, and sends her to bed at night quite 
as weary as a woman with one servant or none. 

Perhaps some will say, *' I can't see it ; I do all 
these things, I make calls, receive them, make my 
children's clothes and do church work, and have one 
servant." And to such a one I reply : Do you also 
live in a large house, not only are there more rooms, 
be it remembered, but a large house means — broad 
corridors, wide stairs, many windows, often large 
down stairs premises, corridors, laundry, pantries, etc., 
the surface space of which alone would cover the 
whole of that in a small house, and every foot has to 
be kept clean, and then although a woman of small 
means may do her full share of charitable work, she is 
is not called upon to help in all sorts of outside direc- 
tions, as a woman of large means is ; if called upon, 
it is not her duty as it is that of a wealthier woman 
to do it, nor can she in her smaller house receive fre- 
quent staying company, nor would she (at least she 
ought not) imitate the style of living of the other 
woman. 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 141 

To return to the wearing cares of the mistress of a 
large household in this country, they surely ought not 
to be ; the cares incidental to small means, and much 
to do with them, cannot be avoided ; but the woman 
of large means surely need not have her time absorbed 
by supplementing her servants. Probably much of this 
arises from a mistaken sense of duty. One more ser- 
vant in her household might make the difference ; she 
knows it, yet feels because other women with as large 
houses manage with the three or four, that she ought 
to do so, but often the employment of a laundress so 
far relieves both cook and chambermaid, that they 
each get through the Vork without the mistress's 
helping hand, or if her time is most consumed at the 
sewing machine, then oze who will be seamstress and 
waitress may solve the difficulty in a measure, and 
think, if you are sufficiently well off to live as I am 
supposing, how very little the wages will be to you 
after all. Two hundred dollars a year to a woman 
who has not a thousand to live on, is a vast sum, but 
to one who would give it for a gown or sack or one 
piece of furniture, I say go without one gown or 
economize some other way to release yourself, your 
nerves, and your time for your children and husband, 
and for the sake of a bloomiiig old age. 

I am far from advocating self-indulgence or idle- 
ness, but the strenuous, anxious housekeeper, who 
puts her own hand to everythiiag without actual need 
to do it, is by no means the b^st one, often because 
she does so much herself she dannot superintend so 
Buccessfully as she should. I think it may be taken 



143 PB0GBE8SIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

as a rule that the housekeeper who goes through- every 
department of her house daily, who gives her orders 
for the work to he done, who reads her recipe to her 
cook, and after once superintending, lets her know 
that she will be expected to work alone in future, is 
better served, and the wheels of the domestic machin- 
ery go better, than when she executes it herself. 

It is said by many that servants are a necessary 
evil ; therefore, the more you have of them, the worse 
you are off. This is not quite so. If you can afford 
to divide your work so that each servant is responsible 
only for her own department, and you are willing to 
pay good wages, you have mor ) chance of obtaining 
ambitious, well-trained servaots than if you must 
engage those who are willing xo multiply themselves. 
We may object to the idea that the woman to whom 
we pay good wages and give a comfortable home 
should refuse to take a place where she has to be gen- 
erally useful, nevertheless object as we may, the fact 
remains, skilled labor anywhere and everywhere can 
afford to be independent, and I for one, would not 
grudge it the right. What I and every other house- 
keeper ought to object to, is that the half-skilled or 
quite unskilled servants who absorb our time and too 
often ruin our health, should either be paid the wages 
or demand the privileges of the skilled. 

In this chapter it may not be out of place to say a 
few words on any subject that touches women's leisure 
or means of economizing time, although at a first 
glance that of calls and visiting days may seem to be 
more appropriate to a book of etiquette. But in fact 



PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 143 

the branch of the subject I am about to touch upon, 
has a Tery important bearing on housekeeping. I 
allude to the waste of time consumed in receiving 
calls, and I want to urge every woman who has any 
but very intimate friends to have an afternoon in the 
week to receive calls. Many women of wealth and 
social position have adopted the fashion, perhaps at 
first because it was a fashion, but there is a great deal 
more than that to be said in its favor, and it is the 
busy woman, who has every moment occupied with 
household duties and yet keeps her hold on social life, 
who will find it a saving of time and a means of 
snatching some passing pleasure and repose from 
what otherwise is an occasional vexation, whom the 
custom would help most. The advantage of a re- 
ceiving day is often fully understood, but women who 
make no social pretension shrink from it for fear of 
being thought "airy" or aping fashion, but it is Just 
these women who might look on it as an absolute duty 
to themselves, and a real kindness to their friends. 

How many of us know what it is to have an ac- 
quaintance, who is both agreeable and, would be, 
welcome, call on us just as we are doing something 
that we are nervously anxious to finish, or that re- 
quires our undivided attention ; fortunate if we are 
not in the middle of some delicate cooking that will 
spoil by leaving it. There are then but two things 
to do — ask our visitor right into the kitchen or work 
room, or leave everything and go to her just as we 
are; anything is better than to keep her waiting. If 
we do the first, she will know that she has come just 



144 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

at the wrong time, and feel that she is intruding in 
spite of your assurance that you wish her to stay, and 
in fact if you go on busily with your occupation you 
really cannot enjoy her visit, while if you leave every- 
thing, you will show the marks perhaps of being very 
busy, and your mind will wander to the oven that was 
just right, and is now cooling, or the work that you 
wanted to finish so specially to-day ; in any case, you 
do not enjoy the visit, and your visitor will feel that 
you have been very polite, but that she might have 
chosen a better time. 

By having a " day " you do away with all this, and 
you save time. You know the afternoon or evening 
when your friends will call, and you arrange accord- 
ingly. You need lose time only for that day ; you 
will have no exacting work in hand; you will be 
dressed and ready, and stocking darning or small 
mending, although not parlor work, may be left to 
pick up and can be put away without mental anxiety 
when visitors arrive. If you have made it known 
that you have given up this day, (and you can pleas- 
antly also give your reasons) you may have several 
calls at one time, while otherwise each would have 
come separately and separately taken your time. 
Your callers will probably enjoy meeting each other, 
and you, with your mind quite free, will be at your 
best. 

The objections to this reception day do not compare 
with its advantages. They are, first, that it is some- 
times impossible to foresee what we may have to do ; 
that the very day we have agreed to stay at home is 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 145 

the one on which it will seem almost necessary to go 
out. Second, that although we have a day, no one 
comes that day, but on every one but that, so we 
sacrifice the day in vain. 

To the first, the only answer is that we can have no 
great advantage without some drawback, that you can 
to a certain extent avoid trouble by carefully consid- 
ering the matter before choosing your day, think over 
everything that is for and against it. In cities, one 
of the things to be avoided, as far as possible, is select- 
ing a day on which many of our friends themselves re- 
ceive. To the second objection I would say, if it is 
known that you devote one afternoon to receiving your 
friends, nothing but the most urgent necessity could 
justify any one in calling at any other time. To do 
this is a positive rudeness. I have known women not 
otherwise ill-bred to say : " I know it is not your day, 
but I so seldom come to this neighborhood I thought 
I might venture, etc." The lady has not intended to 
be rude, but it is rude, for if any one comes with real 
desire to see you, they will even to their own incon- 
venience, come when they know you are at home ; if 
they come at another time, it argues that they do not 
care to see you, but simply to discharge a social duty; 
this can be done equally well by any one, on merely 
formal footing, by leaving a card without disturbing 
you. If there is some urgent object or reason to ask 
you to receive a call, it should be written on the card, 
sent in, and if this is not done, no thinking woman 
should take ofEense by your excusing yourself. At 
present it is only in large cities, and there by well- 



14:6 PEOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

bred people, that the importance of respecting the re- 
ception day, in other words, the most precious thing 
we have — our leisure, is recognized. In places where 
it is not the general custom, many women try to have 
"a day," and because for a few weeks, no one or few 
come on it, and they do come on other days, they be- 
come discouraged, disregard their day, go out upon 
it, or if callers come are obviously unready to re- 
ceive them. 

If you tell your acquaintance that you have a day, 
you are bound as a lady to be at home; it is one 
of the excuses of people who do not observe "days," 
that it's no use putting themselves out to do so, for 
" Mrs. So and So is always out on her day," they hav- 
ing called once perhaps and found her so, but even 
once should not have happened. If you do not ob- 
serve your own rule, no one else will. If some im- 
perative reason calls you out, ask some lady to receive 
for you ; she will explain. Those of your callers who 
have walked will rest and get cool, or warm, as the 
season may be. There is another aspect under which 
you may look at this question, even, if (as some will 
say) you have not a sufficiently large circle to justify 
a receiving day. If you have only three or four occa- 
sional visitors, it will be a kindness for you to let 
them know there is a certain hour and day when you 
will be found at home. How often we come in and 
find some one we would so gladly have seen has called 
in our absence, perhaps some elderly or weak person, 
who has taken a long walk and consequently needed 
rest. 



PEOGBESSIVE EOUSEKEEPING. 147 

I hope I have said enough to make some of my 
readers think over this question seriously, not as an 
affectation or fashion, but as a means of avoiding one 
of the smaller worries. It is worry, not work that 
wears, and I really believe small worries are more in- 
jurious in the long run than real trouble ; such as we 
by firmness can remove from our lives, it is our duty 
to do. No one woman can do much perhaps to change 
an existing state of things, but if no one woman ever 
began any social movement, how little would be done! 

I have spoken thus far of the setting apart of two 
or three hours of each week or each two weeks to see 
callers instead of giving up odd hours all through the 
week, as one means of saving time and worry, and 
tried to show that instead of it being a fashionable 
affectation it is more advisable for the woman who is 
not fashionable, but a busy housewife, most advisable 
of all to the one ''who does her own work," if she 
has any social leaning. JSTow I will say a few words 
of the custom in its social aspect. 

It is somewhat a growing fashion in the city to make 
the weekly reception a sort of informal festivity; this, 
if very simply done, is a pleasant social custom ; if 
merely a cup of tea and thin bread and butter with 
perhaps one sort of cake is offered in winter, or water 
ice in summer with wafers, there is nothing to be said 
against such a mode of hospitality, but if there is to 
be a variety of cakes, confectioneries, etc., anything 
that involves much expense or time, the ''five o'clock 
tea " loses its original character and becomes a formal 
reception. 



148 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

To have five o'clock tea weekly, if we have a num- 
ber of friends dropping in, is a kindly and gracious 
custom. The tea is always made by the lady on 
the table and handed by her to her guests if there 
are no gentlemen to carry it (a servant should not 
be employed in the matter), the tea equipage consist- 
ing of a tray covered with a pretty cloth, with small 
cups and saucers, cream, sugar, slop bowl, the tea- 
pot covered with a cosey, and very thin bread and 
butter on plates. The tray is set on a table and the 
tea made. This is the English fashion. You may 
however prefer to use a table on which is the cloth 
without a tray ; in this case the tea is not brought in 
but arranged ready for callers. Tea is made by the 
lady in the following way : The tea-pot has a little 
hot water in it when brought in ; this must be poured 
out into the slop bowl and tea put in it according 
to the number you may require it for ; three tea- 
spoonfuls make a pint of tea, the cups used run three 
to the half pint. A quart of tea therefore will serve 
eight or nine, and allow for a second cup, which is 
rarely asked for. Of course, you must gauge your 
tea-pot, know how much it holds, and pour the 
water accordingly. When you put the tea in the 
pot light the alcohol kettle which should have had 
boiling water in it, and when it boils pour on to 
the tea about a third of the water you intend to use, 
put the cosey over it and let it steep seven minutes, 
add the rest of the water, cover again and use as 
needed ; or, you may if you prefer, pour on all the 
water at once. It is easier and less formal to say to 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 149 

each guest after a few minutes' conversation, " Shall 
I give you some tea ? " or its equivalent, and to give 
it at once, than to wait to a certain time and hand it 
to every one at once. With the tea cosey the tea 
keeps hot a long time, but if people straggle in, pr 
for any late comer, fresh should be made. A friendly, 
nice way, is to have a bright kettle on an open fire 
and make tea from that when boiling, in the good old- 
fashioned way. • 



CHAPTER XV. 



ECONOMICAL BUYING, 



I HAD chiefly in mind in the last chapter a class 
of women who perhaps may form but a small 
minority of my readers, namely, those who have 
large households and easy means, but there are others 
who have large households simply because they have 
a large house, and must have the servants to keep it 
clean, but who nevertheless need to be very economi- 
cal. To these and those who have to provide for 
boarders or large numbers in any way, I would sug- 
gest the buying of many things in large quantities as 
a much better way of economizing than cutting down 
supplies or buying inferior ones. Butter may be 
bought by the pail in October, generally at 25 cents 
a pound, eggs in September are 20 cents or less, cases 
of assorted canned goods are much cheaper than by 
the single can, and there are many other things which 
it will be well worth while for those who need to be 
economical to inquire about. Of course, if you buy 
in bulk you will have to watch the consumption ; it 
is quite a common thing to hear the mistress of a 
house say, ''I like to buy in large quantities, but if I 
get a pail of butter it goes like magic, and a barrel of 
apples lasts no longer than half a bushel." Of course, 
a barrel of apples open to every passing hand will go 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPINQ, 151 

if it is not in the store-room ; they will be eaten, not 
because they are needed, but just '" for fun ; " and as 
apples always seem, free plunder, two or three will go 
out of the house in every pocket perhaps, without any 
idea of pilfering. Such stores should be under your 
own charge, or that of some one deputed by you, and 
given as required for use ; the butter also. With re- 
gard to butter, to keep it sweet, it requires.-such care 
that you will do well, aside from being able to know 
how it is used, to allow no one to handle it but your- 
self or your deputy ; if left uncovered or taken out 
with a soiled or warm spoon or ladle, it will be in- 
jured. Eggs may be preserved for winter use, either 
in lime water or in common dry salt, and be as fresh 
as those for which you will pay 35 to. 40 cents the 
dozen at Christmas. 

If you have a cool cellar or outhouse, you will do 
well in winter to buy half a sheep at a time, or even a 
whole one ; there is a good deal of fat on it, but it is 
valuable. You will not pay for the whole sheep more 
than twelve cents a pound and the waste is very small. 
The head, well cleaned, makes excellent broth; the 
scrag, although few people know it, is the most ten- 
der and finely flavored part for boiling, although it 
does not make a sightly dish ; it should be gently 
boiled twenty minutes to each pound, with a turnip, 
carrot and onion in the water, and a scant teaspoonf ul 
of salt to each quart ; the water only just to cover 
the meat. Serve it smothered in parsley or caper 
sauce. The broth may have the yolks of two eggs 
and a teaspoonful of finely chopped parsley beaten 



162 PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

into it just before serving, or a little rice or pearl bar- 
ley may have been boiled in it with the meat. Mut- 
ton broth prepared thus is delicious. 

This part of mutton, too, makes that excellent 
Scotch dish, hotch-potch. The breast is the least 
manageable part of the animal, and yet two or three 
excellent dishes can be made from it ; if you will put 
it in water and let it boil slowly so as to extract the 
greater part of the fat, what will remain after three 
hours simmering will be marrowy and delicious; the 
bones may then be slipped out and a veal or other 
forcemeat laid in it, then rolled and roasted, or it may 
be made into excellent curry. All the fat should be 
saved and tried out ; keep one nice large jar of the 
finest for seething and pouring hot over preserves, 
potted meats, etc. The rest will make excellent hard 
soap. 

It is needless to say, I suppose, that the longer mut- 
ton is hung in cold weather, the finer it is. If you 
have any man about you who understands cutting up 
meat, it is well to leave it hanging whole in a current 
of pure air, but otherwise pay a butcher's man a trifle 
to cut it up for you and then hang the parts ; remem- 
ber, the head, neck, and forequarter, generally keep 
less well than the hindquarter. Wherever the meat 
has been cut, dredge flour until it forma a dry cover- 
ing ; remove the pith from the whole length of the 
back bone. If a thaw comes on suddenly, and a warm 
spell sets in while you have much on hand, it is un- 
fortunate, but the meat can be saved ; it is well, how- 
ever, to avoid purchasing largely after long-continued 



PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 153 

frost. Of course, the usual winter thaws which last 
for a day or so, will not affect your meat much, but 
it is well to examine it, without bringing it into a 
warm temperature. If it is oozing at any spot, yet 
smells sweet, simply dredge more flour. If you fear 
that it is in danger, make the fat you have tried out 
boiling hot in some large vessel, a deep milk pan will 
do, then seethe the joints in this fat for a minute or 
two, one at a time, take each out, do not lay it down, 
but hang it quickly, just as it is, in a cold place ; the 
fat will chill on it and form a sort of air proof cas- 
ing, which can be scraped ofE when required for use. 
Some parts, such as have many crevices, may be bet- 
ter half cooked, but for the legs, hind loin, or any 
solid compact meat, in fact, this is far the better 
method. 

Meat that has hung long must be carefully scraped 
and washed off with vinegar and water, as the outer 
skin will have acquired a stale taste. I have known - 
an epicure to keep legs of mutton two months by 
care and watching, and at the end of the time the 
outer skin would be covered with blue mould ; this 
was skinned off as thin as possible, then the leg 
dredged with flour and roasted, and certainly it was 
tender as meat could possibly be, and the flavor very 
fine. In buying mutton for economy, do not choose 
it too fat, and give the preference to that with the 
smallest shank bone. 

Beef bills will also be much cheaper if the beef is 
bought by the quarter. The hindquarter usually costs 
from 13 cents to 14 cents per pound ; the f orequarter 



154 PBOGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

several cents less ; altliougli in the forequarter there 
are some good steaks and a few pounds of fair roast, it 
is more fit for families where a la mode beef, stewed 
beef, and much soup is required. For this reason it 
may be profitably bought for large boarding-houses 
which consume a great deal of meat for these pur- 
poses ; but private families will do better to pay a 
little more for the hindquarter ; all the best cuts are 
in this, and what are not required for roasts and 
steaks can be corned ; the leg will be used for soup, 
and the fat (not suet) tried out for dripping, which is 
the next best thing to butter for all cooking purposes. 
The suet may be freed from skin and veins, chopped 
very fine and put into paper bags with a little dry 
flour. It will keep months in a dry cool place. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

WITH the fast approaching spring days will 
come a change in our way of liying. If we 
are wise, on warm "Spring feverish" days 
we shall abandon a part of our strong meat diet and 
substitute vegetables — cereals, eggs, salads and fruits 
when they come. If city people who have bought 
meat for breakfast during winter, and feel they can- 
not afford cream, would drop the meat and take cream 
in its stead, using it with oatmeal, hominy or mush, 
they would be quite as well nourished, and better pre- 
pared to meet the warm languid days which spring 
often brings us . 

The foregoing paragraph, however, has been writ- 
ten rather as a reminder of the changes that nature 
requires than because I intend to enter into dietetic 
matters. Before us lies the necessary but uninterest- 
ing matter of housecleaning. 

There are very good housekeepers who say they have 
no housecleaning, that the house should be always 
clean. That is quite true, but, unless you are very 
severe to yourself and are quite certain you never 
store away what is useless, that you have the time, if 
you do your own work, the faithful service, if you 
do not to clean every nook and corner, I think the 
twice-yearly housecleaning is a good thing. There is 
one housekeeper I know of, who prides herself on 



156 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

never having a housecleaning time, but I think even 
those who groan in spirit over the semi-annual upturn- 
ings, would not envy this family, for the houseclean- 
ing is going on more or less all the time. She says she 
takes up carpets when they require it ; I do not believe 
it is oftener than twice a year, but it always seems 
that one or another room is in a dismantled condition. 
I know of others who deprecate housecleaning because 
life is not long enough to worry over it. If things 
are really not dirty, what matter if the dust has ac- 
cumulated in remote corners, it is only dust, innocu- 
ous, odorless dust. Suppose the carpet swept weekly 
with tea leaves from year's end to year's end should 
have a thick layer of it underneath, and is going to 
wear out in less time, this philosophical housewife — 
no, housewife is not the term, philosopher is better, 
said, "reckon the two or three dollars a year it costs 
to shake it, the wear and tear of the process, and I 
don't believe I lose more than that by leaving it down 
three years." Now, this family were cultivated people 
of refined habits, industrious, and by no means dirty, 
as might be expected, nor did their house present any 
appearance of neglect ; on the contrary, I have known 
houses were dust was relentlessly pursued which were 
much less neat in appearance, but it did lack bright- 
ness and freshness, even abundant and beautiful flow- 
ers could not give that; nothing reflected a cheery 
light. Do not many housekeepers know that before 
housecleaning begins nothing seems soiled ? One 
weary with many tasks may even ask if it can be 
necessary, and yet after it is over, she will see the 



PB0GBES8IVE HOUSEKEEPING. 157 

difference ; the light will play on gleaming surfaces, 
the whole house seems brighter, more airy, and cheer- 
ful. Therefore, I say, let us have the housecleaning 
when possible, but let us not worry or fret if sickness 
at the season, or the pressure of other work or care 
makes it impossible. But when we clean house, let 
it be done with as little general discomfort as possible. 

Closets may be emptied of contents one at a time 
on spring days before fires have quite ceased; all 
parcels, if parcels there be, opened, aired ; the con- 
tents, if we wish to keep them, may be repacked and 
labeled, the shelves washed down and sprinkled with 
powdered borax, and the packages replaced ; this will 
very much simplify the housecleaning when it comes. 
It often happens that garments. we have put away to 
make over in fall, we may decide not to use but give 
them away. Apropos of old garments to be made 
over, it saves space and time to get them ready to be- 
gin work apon before packing away, and besides if a 
garment is put away soiled, just as you leave it off, 
it will look much worse when you take it out ; every 
spot and stain will show doubly, and the ripping be 
twice as disagreeable ; old housekeepers do not need 
to be told this, but inexperienced ones may. To such, 
I recommend that they rip, brush, sponge, and press 
all goods before laying away. They thus get rid of 
the dirt and dust, and parts too worn to be of service. 

Perhaps a few directions for renovating certain 
articles may be of service to those about to put away 
winter things. Black silk may be sponged with a de- 
coction of soap bark and water if very dirty, and 



158 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

hung out to dry, or if only creased and needing to be 
freshened, weak borax water or alcohol, and where 
possible, it is better pressed by laying pieces smoothly 
and pressing them through the clothes wringer screwed 
very tight. If you must iron, do it after the silk is 
dry, between two damp pieces of muslin ; the upper 
one may better be Swiss, that you may see what you 
are doing through it. This is a little more trouble 
than ironing the wrong side of silk, but you will be 
repaid ; the hot iron gives the silk a paper-like feel- 
ing ; above all, never iron silk wet, or even very damp. 

Satin may be cleaned by sponging lengthivise — never 
across the width — with benzine, if greasy, or alcohol, 
or borax water ; this will not be injured by direct con- 
tact with iron ; press on the wrong side. Black cloth 
may be sponged with ammonia and water, an ounce 
of rock ammonia to a wine bottle of water, or liquid 
household ammonia, diluted very much, may be used. 
Black cashmere may be washed in borax water, and 
so indeed, may navy blue. It should be rubbed only 
between the hands, not on a board, and the water only 
pressed, not twisted out; each width folded in four 
as smoothly as possible, and wrung through the 
wringer, then opened and hung up to dry is the best 
way. Cashmere so treated, if it is good quality, will 
look like new. 

Pongee silk is supposed by many never to look so 
well after washing ; but if properly treated, it may 
be made up again with new added, and the difference 
cannot be seen. But as usually washed, it is several 
shades darker, and sometimes has a stiffness to it, 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 159 

althougli it may not have been starched; this change of 
color and stiffness is due to its being ironed wet. Again 
a pongee dress will come from the laundress covered 
with dark spots ; this is where it has been allowed to 
dry and then been " sprinkled down ; " the sprinkling 
shows. The remedy is simply to put it again in water, 
dry it and iron it when quite dry. Pongee requires 
no more care in washing than a white garment ; it 
will bear hard rubbing if necessary, but it must not 
be boiled or scalded. Treat it about as you would 
flannel; let it get quite dry, and if you use a quite 
hot iron, not hot enough to singe of course, all the 
creases will come out, and the silk will look like new. 
The reason it darkens it to iron it wet, is this : If 
it were put into boiling water the silk would darken 
as flannel would. If you put a hot iron on the damp 
silk you convert what water remains in it into boiling 
water; it is thus scalded. A silk which has changed 
color in the wash may be partly restored by washing 
again. Parenthetically, I may remark that this iron- 
ing them wet is the reason gentlemen's white silk 
handkerchiefs become yellow with washing. 

While looking over the linen closet preparatory to 
housecleaning, notice what sheets are wearing thin in 
the middle and require turning. When cotton sheets 
become so it is hardly worth while in these days of 
precious time and cheap muslin to turn them. It is 
better to lay aside those that will not stand much more 
washing and keep them for sickness or times when 
frequent changes are required. This is a better way 
than to reserve strong new sheets for occasional use. 



160 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

and wear the old ones to rags. After closets, bureau 
drawers may hare the same leisurely going over in- 
stead of leaving them until housecleaning is in full 
career. If this is done, and only one room thoroughly 
cleaned at a time, housecleaning need not be the ter- 
ror it is. It may take two weeks instead of one if 
you have ten or twelve rooms, and only try to get one 
done in a short day, which is usually easy enough to 
do if there are two working. Although we know 
there are many women who do work entirely alone, it 
is very hard, indeed, for one woman to take down bed- 
steads and shake carpets, and move heavy furniture, 
not to speak of taking down and moving stoves ; yet, 
I have known women do all this and more, but to some 
it would be physically impossible, and many who do it 
ought not to do it ; they may suffer all the latter part 
of their lives from abuse of the inexhaustible energy 
which leads them to overtax themselves. To women 
so situated and so constituted, I would give the advice 
which I fear they will not, perhaps cannot, follow. 
Cultivate a wholesome habit of negligence, it is better 
the stove remain up all summer if heavy than you 
should move it ; better a dusty carpet for a few 
months than that you should lay up for yourself an 
early old age. Not that housework, scrubbing, clean- 
ing, even beyond what is looked upon as a woman^s 
limit is hurtful, if not carried beyond your strength; 
if you can trust yourself to cease when you are really 
and heartily tired, when rest is refreshment; but too 
many women work just to finish this or that, long 
after fatigue has set in. Their bodies may not feel 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 161 

much more tired than they were an hour or two ear- 
lier, but instead of cheerful physical fatigue, when it 
is real comfort to sit down and rest, and laugh and 
talk perhaps, or read something pleasant ; instead of 
this good feeling, has come nervous fatigue, a very 
different matter, the least word irritates us, and when 
we finally cease, it is not to rest with cheerful talk or 
reading and a delicious sense of work done and repose 
earned, but we sink down too tired to rest, feeling 
worn out, ill, and ready to cry rather than laugh. We 
may get over once, such abuse as this, or two or three 
times, but by degrees this nervous irritability will be- 
come, not a rare experience consequent on rare fatigue, 
but will follow even very little exertion, and the re- 
sult will be, the shattered, pallid woman faded and 
worn out long before life's prime, and probably the 
time will then have come for her, when she not only 
is not able to do very much, but she is unable to re- 
frain from trying to do. Therefore, I say, if the work 
that seems so necessary causes more than a healthy 
fatigue, let it go. Keep the house " broom clean ; " 
do just what must be done and reserve your nerves 
for your husband and children ; it is your duty. If 
you do your own washing, since cleanliness is next to 
godliness, and it must be done, use every labor-saving 
article within your reach ; iron only the necessary. 
Use the wringer as a mangle ; when sheets and towels 
and undergarments are dry and smoothly folded, run 
them through the wringer instead of ironing them ; 
they will be just as wholesome and your back will be 
saved. 



162 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

I repeat, this advice is only to the over-burdened ; to 
the strong, energetic woman whose washing, ironing 
and churning leave her, only muscle weary, but full of 
vitality and ready to welcome fresh work next day, I 
can only say " good speed." Your work benefits you, 
as a course of athletics would. The youngest woman 
of her age that I know, pretty and bright, and full 
of the enjoyment of life in spite of several grand- 
children, tells me she had six children, no servant till 
they were all out of hand, and she did her own white- 
washing, painting and wall papering, but she was 
never unwise enough to work in a hurry ; she had 
much to do, but she did not worry to do it all in a 
given time ; and then again, although she is a small 
woman, she must have enjoyed perfect health and an 
equable temperament. 

Now that I have said enough I hope, to show my 
readers that I do not look upon it as every woman's 
duty to do all the work I shall indicate for house- 
cleaning ; I shall proceed to tell what — when there 
are hands to do it — is advisable to have done once or 
twice a year. That plan of housecleaning is best, I 
think, which begins with the bedrooms, getting, un- 
less there is an unusual reason for not doing it, one 
room furnished and comfortable, before another is 
upset, then coming down to the lower rooms, and 
then the garret, kitchen and cellar last of all. My 
reason for putting the garret or lumber room after 
lower rooms, is because in the process of turning out 
and cleaning below, many things may be relegated to 
the garret, and if it has already been gone over, there 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 163 

■will needs be some time again spent there to arrange 
the fresh consignments. I will say here what I have 
to suggest about the garret, because in spite of my 
own view, many will cling to the old practice and pre- 
fer to go literally from ''garret to cellar." 

The most difficult part, I think, in the tidying of 
the garret, is not the cleaning ; that I will not enter 
into as the directions given for bedrooms can be modi- 
fied to suit the garrets. Some are simply unfinished 
lumber rooms, and all you can do is to sweep the dust 
and cobwebs off the walls and floor and then mop the 
latter. Other garrets are to all intents and purposes 
excellent rooms, and will be cleaned as such. No, 
the true difficulty is in arranging the articles stored 
in the garret so that they can be immediately found. 
The first thing I would counsel, is to get rid of articles 
you do not need ; all pieces of worn out garments, 
anything that we may not have been sure about last 
cleaning, but now we know we shall never use ; put 
these things from the piece bag to the rag bag, which 
can be emptied the first time the junkman comes 
round ; in going over trunks every parcel should be 
opened, contents noted, marked in pencil (or still bet- 
ter, with a " stylo," for ink will not rub) on a slip of 
paper and fastened to it. How much time this label- 
ing saves, every woman can tell who has hunted 
through a dozen parcels to find a piece of silk or velvet, 
she well knows is with some package of pieces. Many 
classify articles stowed away, as all colored woolens in 
one parcel tied with a piece of the goods to indicate 
contents ; all black woolens another package, one of 



164: PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

silks, etc. ; but so many things defy ns to class them, 
they seem to belong nowhere, and we would gladly 
get rid of them, but are sure we should some day, for 
ourselves or others, be glad to run to the garret and 
get them. 

A great assistance is a large wall bag which to a 
housekeeper, is what a desk full of pigeon-holes is to 
the business man. I will describe this ''housekeep- 
er's friend " for those who may not have seen one. It 
is a large piece of strong gray drilling with a dozen 
(or more or less) pockets sewed on, three rows of four 
pockets, or four rows of three according as you have 
a long or broad wall space on which to hang it. These 
pockets are from six inches deep and five broad to 
twelve by ten, according to the stowing room you re- 
quire. They are stitched on and on each is written in 
large plain letters with ink the contents ; for instance 
buttons, tapes, ribbons, braids, curtain rings, etc. ; in 
short, all the articles that may be too useful to throw 
away, yet because they are not new or seldom used, 
may not find a place in the work basket. Ribbons a 
little soiled, just the thing to line or bind or strengthen 
some article, tapes still strong, or buttons from a gar- 
ment old-fashioned but sure to come in again, odd 
buttons too, that only encumber the regular button 
box. All the odds and ends we may think it a sort of 
a duty to keep, if we have a thrifty soul, yet which 
are a nuisance if we constantly come across them, 
may find appropriate homes in these bags. When all 
boxes, packages, etc., have been gone over, the clean- 
ing may be done according to the kind of room the 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 165 

garret is, the one thing necessary always being, that 
it shall be made free from dust, and so far as possible 
the danger of insect breeding lessened. 

In what I am about to say of spring cleaning, it 
will be remembered that I mean turning out one room 
at a time, and getting everything back in its place 
before another is displaced ; when the closets and 
bureaus are already clean this is very quickly done, 
(unless your bedstead requires special attention, which 
I hope may not be the case.) It is not the actual 
cleaning that takes long, but the small preparations 
for it. The first step is to get rid of the stove, take 
away the ashes, beat the soot out of the pipes and stow 
away in a dry place till fall ; then, if you have a piazza 
roof or other convenience, put the mattress out of the 
window to air and to be beaten ; if not, put it wher- 
ever you may have space. Take off the spring, ex- 
amine it thoroughly, dust every part, (an old tooth 
brush or duck wing will go into crevices), put this out 
of the room ; then take the bedstead down. If you 
are free from parasites, dust every crevice and put the 
different parts outside the room door. If you are not 
free from bed-bugs, and there may be circumstances 
which will make it difficult to keep free, you need to 
pay special attention to your bedstead. Sometimes 
during a summer, bed-bugs are brought into the 
house by visitors, travelers, etc., and when one re- 
members that one female is enough to populate a 
room, and that some houses so swarm with them that 
they are on the clothes of all who leave it, it is far 
more remarkable that we escape the infliction than 



166 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

that we have it, considering how many people of all 
kinds we jostle in our out-door life. 

If then you have been unfortunate enough to have 
had bed-bugs brought to you, of which you hope you 
are rid, nevertheless, it will be well to act as if some- 
thing might certainly be lurking in some crevice in- 
visible to your eye. Provide yourself with a cent's 
worth of white lead and some sublimate of mercury 
(or in default of that, some strong yellow soap and 
kerosene), a feather, and a machine oil can or glass 
syringe ; dip the feather in the sublimate, insert it in 
every crevice, brush over all larger surfaces, such as 
ends of the slats, places where they rest, etc.; put 
into the oil can, or syringe, a little of the sublimate, 
and inject it into all worm-holes or cavities where 
eggs may have been deposited, then with the white 
lead and an old knife, fill up every accidental crack 
or crevice, remembering the loathsome insect loves to 
deposit eggs in cracks of the slat, in the crevices 
around knots, and where splinters have broken ofE, If 
your white lead is hard, moisten with oil, then plug up 
holes, cracks, abrasions, worm-holes, and make smooth 
surfaces with it, wherever the wood is rough. It will 
spread like putty. (Use soap just in the same way, 
and the kerosene as you do the sublimate.) In fact, 
it is better not to wait for the appearance of vermin 
to do this, but to go over a new bedstead in the same 
way, especially if it is an expensive one. If you do 
not like the appearance of such white filling, any 
paint store where you buy the white lead will color it 
to match the wood. Persian insect powder is harm- 



PBOGBESSIVE BOUSEEEEPING. 167 

less and excellent, but not so powerful as the subli- 
mate. Even if you should find traces in your bedstead 
of the presence of the enemy, but to no great extent, 
these precautions, applied, of course, just as thoroughly 
to the spring mattress, will suflBce to rid you of them, 
but for months it will be well to take off the spring 
every week, remove the slats and carefully examine 
the bedstead. If, however, you are unfortunate 
enough to have your rooms infested or even your bed- 
stead, and you wish to be permanently rid of them, 
you must take much stronger measures ; and as such 
a task would necessitate two or three days' work, I 
will not just here interrupt the housecleaning proceed- 
ings to describe it, but will return to the subject later. 
When the bedstead has been put outside, draw 
tacks, take up the carpet and put it in the yard or 
wherever it is to be beaten. Throw wet paper, tea 
leaves or sawdust on the floor and then sweep it ; 
brush off the skirting board, tops of doors and win- 
dows, and then brush down the walls. If the paper 
is handsome and of fine quality and there are grease 
spots, it may be cleaned by laying over them a paste 
made of magnesia and benzine. A shabby paper may 
also be improved by rubbing with stale bread, although 
I think I should prefer, as an easier task, to paper 
the room afresh with some low-priced, artistic paper. 
It is a good plan once a year to go round each room 
and hall, and, wherever paper has been jagged or dis- 
figured, lay little pieces on it matching the pattern ex- 
actly. For small surfaces the mucilage bottle is all 
that is required to make the repairs. When the dam- 



168 PBOGEESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

age is more serious, paste may be made for the pnr- 
pose in the following way : Mix one tablespoonf ul of 
flour with a little cold water, pour to it half a pint of 
boiling water, stirring as you pour, — in fact just make 
it us you would starch, then boil two or three minutes. 
The task of repairing paper, however, had better be 
done before the cleaning day. On that day you want 
to have as little hindrance as possible from small 
things. 

When the dust is all removed clean the paint. In 
doing this, if it is white or very light, use only a wet 
flannel smeared with whitening — no soap ; otherwise 
use good soap, and change the water very often ; clean 
up and down as the painter's brush has gone, wash off 
the soapy lather with the flannel wrung through the 
water, then ivipe with a dry cloth. Wiping dry and 
using clean water will prevent the smeary look that 
is sometimes seen on pamt. 

In washing the floor use strong borax water, and if 
you have buffalo moths sprinkle the floor freely with 
powdered borax or powdered alum. As all bedrooms 
require about the same process, and dining and draw- 
ing rooms differ only in having cabinets or sideboard 
to be thoroughly cleaned instead of the bedstead, I 
will not repeat processes, but speak of matters which, 
although not necessarily belonging to housecleaning 
yet as the cleaning is often the season for changing 
the appearance of rooms, will come in appropriately. 

After the winter's wear, hard- wood floors look much 
better for a coat of shellac varnish, *'or hard oil fin- 
ish" applied with a soft varnish brush. This can 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING, 169 

easily be done by any lady herself at the expense of a 
back ache, but the economy of doing this one's self 
is considerable, and the work is Avell repaid by the 
result. A large carpet worn shabby in parts will 
often make an excellent rug ; if the floor is well 
stained, the room will have a better appearance than 
when fully carpeted. I have spoken of preparing a 
floor staining, in a former chapter, and if for a par- 
lor, — unless the pine floor is much better laid than 
usual, — the carpenter's services to smooth off and fill 
in the spaces will be necessary; but bed-rooms may be 
easily stained by any amateur, and, unless cracks are 
very wide, the filling may be dispensed with. I pre- 
fer for stain to buy a box of burnt umber (30 cents) 
and a quart or two quarts of turpentine, to purchas- 
ing the prepared stains. It is a little cheaper, for one 
reason, but my chief one is that the prepared stain 
is often very black. I think the stain is prettier if 
the grain of the pine shows through it, and for it to 
do this the stain must be very thin, not darker than 
black walnut. 

You require a broad brush, an old tin can of small 
size, or gallipot not very deep, and a piece of board — 
the lid of a starch box will do, it is only to try the 
color. Now open the umber, take out a small quan- 
tity with your brush — it is a thick, blackish paste — 
put in this vessel you have provided and pour turpen- 
tine on it, a little at a time, stirring and trying the 
color till you have it right. (It is better too light 
than too dark. The last shows dust and does not 
imitate any wood in use for hard floors.) You had 



170 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

better not mix more than a pint or less at a time, as 
the turpentine evaporates so fast ; and each time you 
mix be sure you get about the color of the first. If 
by chance or imperfect mixing one spot is darker than 
the other, go over it before it dries with clear turpen- 
tine. The stain dries quickly, but you had better 
paint yourself out of the room and not tread on it 
for a few hours. 

It is sometimes recommended simply to oil the sur- 
face after staining and to wash with oil and water, 
but this is a great mistake ; it will look well for a 
time, but the pine is so absorbent that the oil sinks 
in and soon becomes gummy. At this stage no 
amount of washing will make it look clean ; the dirt 
sticks to the old oil, and there is nothing to do but 
cover the floor up or have it planed. If after stain- 
ing you go over it with a coat of shellac varnish, this 
will fill up the pores of the wood so that none of the 
cleaning oil or water will be absorbed. Oil will not 
be needed in the water for a long time if the water 
it is washed with is always clear, and the floor is well 
swept before the washing is done. 

The foregoing is the simplest kind of staining, but 
a much better effect may be produced by having a 
border. This may be one or two bands of light oak. 
To do this draw lines with a carpenter's pencil, on 
the floor, round the room. An easy way is to lay a 
bed-slat on the floor about four inches from the skirt- 
ing board and draw a line each side of it. The width 
is just about right for the band. Of course you go 
round the room with it. If you want a second band, 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 171 

leave a space an inch or so wider than the slat and 
mark as before. If measuring and marking by a car- 
penter's rule seems easier than the slat, do it that way. 
At the corners of the room you may lay your rule 
or slat diagonally from band to band, or, have any 
parquet design you please. 

You will use the dark stain for the strip between 
the skirting board and the first penciled line. Be very 
careful not to go over it ; if you should do so, wipe 
off the stain with a rag and turpentine, then stain 
dark the space between the two penciled bands, then 
the center of the room. When the dark stain is dry, 
stain the bands and corner designs with light oak 
stain, which can be bought by that name. Be very 
careful to keep within the lines, for the sharper these 
bands are defined, the better your work. If you have 
an accident and encroach on the dark stain, you can 
wash it ofi with turpentine, but this will leave a blur- 
red appearance. The shellac varnish must be applied 
over all when dry. In using shellac, work quickly, 
as it hardens rapidly, and if slowly done the coat may 
be uneven. 

The servant's room will require your personal at- 
tention before the bedroom cleaning is done, and if 
you suspect it to contain vermin, I advise it to be the 
first room cleaned, for obvious reasons. It seems 
rather hard that one should have to give personal at- 
tention to the servant's bedstead, but in self-defense 
it is imperative. She may be excellent and cleanly in 
all ways, yet in the homes of her friends, the lodg- 
ings she uses when out of place, bed-bugs swarm. 



172 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

You will tell her to examine her bedstead, and slie will 
do so to the best of her ability ; but unless they have 
been more neglected than is probable with any reader 
of these papers, that is, unless bed-bugs are visible in 
corners of the mattress and on the ends of slats, she 
will certainly not see them. The fact is she does not 
know hotv to look; she does not dream of probing and 
searching, so when she has removed a few slats and 
found nothing, she thinks further search useless ; or 
she may tell you : " There was hardly anything, but 
I gave the bedstead a good washing," etc., etc. 

If you are fortunate enough to have old, tried and 
experienced servants, you may be able to spare your- 
self the disgusting task which so many ladies have to 
perform, not once but many times, — a task all the 
more disagreeable if the servant is of the better, self- 
respecting kind, and whose privacy we are able and 
anxious to respect; I take it that no well-bred woman 
likes to intrude in her servant's bedroom, unless she 
finds she cannot be trusted to keep it clean. 

As I wish here to give some directions for thoroughly 
cleansing an infested room, I will assume that the ser- 
vant's bedstead requires strong measures, and, if that 
is the case, the walls require attention too. Let me 
say here that this task no housekeeper can avoid doing 
personally except at the expense of the whole house 
being troubled, unless she employs a man who makes 
such business a specialty. Most painters will know 
of one. 

Of course you will not have paper on the walls of 
the room ; hard finish is best. This should be ex- 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 173 

amined, and every crack and crevice or nail hole filled 
up with plaster of Paris mixed to paste with water. 
It hardens almost at once, so do not mix until about 
to use. All round the skirting board should be in- 
jected with kerosene ; wherever there are crevices 
near the bed, these filled with plaster of Paris. This 
filling up all openings, however small, I advise even 
in a room that is quite free from the pest. Prevention 
is better than cure. In a room where they are estab- 
lished in the walls, it is well to fumigate. As the 
first step after the bedstead has been taken down, 
thoroughly searched in all unlikely, as well as likely, 
places, the casters being laid in kerosene, and the 
holes where they belong being injected with sublimate, 
inject the same far into every hole and socket, then 
go over all corners, ends of laths, etc., with a hard 
brush, dipped in sublimate. Corners of the mattress, 
tufting, etc., all must be treated with the sublimate; 
and then stuff up windows and keyholes, hang up a 
heavy blanket outside the door, securely fasten with 
two kitchen forks or nails, and then, removing from 
the room looking-glass and any metal articles there 
may be, leave bedding, etc., to be fumigated. The 
easiest way is to use a charcoal furnace, but if you 
put two bricks on the floor, a coal-hod or old tin pan 
can be set on with live coals. Have in your hand a 
packet of powdered sulphur; stand ready to close the 
door of the room instantly; then from the doorway 
throw the paper packet on to the coals, close the door 
drop the blanket and set a chair to keep the blanket 
close so as to confine the fumes. Next day hold your 



174 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

breath, when you enter the room, till you have thrown 
open the window. The contents of the room should 
now go into the open air. 

This fumigation is necessary for any room where 
the trouble is deep-seated. In giving these directions 
I am supposing an extreme case, but in what I am 
now going to say about the bedstead, I give my own 
plan, whether the trouble is present or not. In many 
years' housekeeping I have had real trouble but once, 
and I think the reason is the precaution I take. Every 
fall, after examining the servant's, bedstead, I paint 
the ends of the slats, the places where they rest, the 
bed spring, every bit of the woodwork, on which the 
mattress rests, with thin white paint in which there 
is a good deal of turpentine. 

In changing servants, I never let a new one come 
into the room as left by the last, but make a thorough 
examination of bed and bedstead, and use the paint 
brush, unless recently done. 

I believe hard, white varnish, used instead of paint, 
is even better, but the latter is cheap and easy, and I 
have found effectual. The chief thing is, it fills up 
the pores of the wood and makes rough places 
smoother, and no longer suitable depositing places 
for eggs. The ends of slats in cheap bedsteads are 
often very coarsely sawn off, and these pores are often 
full of eggs, which are nearly invisible. Paint cures 
all this. But you may do all this and more, and yet 
if you leave such a bedstead in such a room unvisited 
till next cleaning time, you will probably again find 
the pest; some one of them, somewhere, will have 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 175 

escaped and undone your work, therefore for weeks 
look every day or two to see that no chance be given 
to their unfortunate fecundity. 

A handsome bedstead you would not like to treat 
with paint, and if you have one that has been troubled, 
after thorough cleansing with the sublimate, sprinkle 
plentifully with genuine insect powder, and after that, 
every morning for months, devote half an hour to a 
thorough examination of the bed. Once a week take 
it down. With this treatment, once thorough clean- 
ing, then daily inspection, you will effectually rid 
yourself of the pests, even if they were very bad. 
Too often the thorough cleansing is done, then the 
matter given up for several weeks or months, but then 
surely it must all be gone over again, and so on for 
years, and one is never free. I confess, in the bright 
spring and summer mornings, it is hard to give up 
half an hour to such a task, especially when day after 
day we find nothing to justify the search, but it is 
only for a time, and it is only by such ceaseless fol- 
lowing up that you can be sure of getting free from 
what is a perpetual dread and horror, so long as it 



All else that concerns housekeeping has, I think, 
been gone into in the methods of work given for each 
day. It only remains for me to say, with regard to 
the household work, that the work of summer differs 
very little from winter, except that the fires are done 
away with, and, instead of having ashes to remove, 
and ventilation to manage without letting too much 
frosty air into the house, we can throw open windows 



176 PEOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

and let in floods of sunshine and fresh air, while the 
outside porches or stoops are brushed or washed. 

I have been asked two or three questions, which 
I take this opportunity of answering. One is in 
relation to dish-towels; the other, to dish-cZo^7i6", 
often called dish-ra^s. This should never be an 
appropriate term, for while one might, for want of 
better, take a rag to dust with, a rag should not serve 
for dishes, but a decent cloth. Old crash dish-towels 
have usually strong ends which can be cut off and 
hemmed, and a loop put into it, for a dish-cloth. But 
a yard of coarse, strong, twilled dish-toweling can be 
cut in three, and hemmed and looped. This is the 
better way, for you can find excellent use for the 
old crash towels for drying cloths for floor or 
paint. I prefer to keep two dish-cloths in use, — one 
to be washed and dried each day. They will last twice 
as long as when allowed to be constantly wet. The 
most delightful dish-cloths are made of a ball of candle 
wick knitted on coarse, wooden needles, and, if dried 
each day, they wear very well. Do not allow dilapi- 
dated dish-cloths to be used; the lint is constantly 
passing into your waste-pipe, with the danger of stop- 
ping it up; and they are not easy to wash and dry. 
With regard to dish-towels, I think there is only one 
thing indispensable, — they must be of linen, — cotton 
loses color, and stains are difficult to wash out. The 
soft Russian crash is, I think, best, but some kinds 
are so hard it takes months to *^ break " them. Softer 
and finer linen toweling comes for glass and silver. 
It should be a rule to have them washed immediately 



PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 177 

after they have been used, and once a week they 
should be boiled and ironed, to keep them soft. If 
you happen to have the hard crash, have each towel 
ironed every time it is washed for a few weeks; this 
will rapidly soften it. 

A lady has told me her method of taking up ashes, 
which seems so good that I give my readers the benefit 
of it. It is to lay a sheet of newspaper in the coal- 
hod, one page of it hanging over the sides. As each 
shovelful of ashes is put into the hod turn the loose 
leaf of paper over it while you take up the next shovel- 
ful. This prevents very much dust from rising. 

I have said nothing at all on one subject, which 
belongs very intimately to housekeeping, yet I ven- 
ture to think is not of it, any more than our court- 
ship and marriage or other matters sacred to the 
inner life. I allude to children, but so serious, so 
many-sided is the subject of children's training, that 
it could not be effectively discussed in the scope of 
one of these chapters ; and we may be sure the wife 
who keeps house well for her husband will do the 
same for the dear little ones. The judicious rules 
that make comfort in the house for one, make it for 
the whole family. 

I wish to state here that there are several manu- 
factured articles for cleaning purposes, of whose mer- 
its as labor-saving mediums I am well aware, and very 
heartily recommend all housekeepers to take advant- 
age of them. The really valuable articles of this 
class have stood the test of time, and are so well 
1^'^ known as to need no mention, but improvements on 



178 PBOGBESSir:E HOUSEKEEPING. 

old methods are always taking place, and while it is 
unwise, if yon have an article in use that completely 
answers its purpose, to displace it in favor of a newer 
kind, perhaps less good in reality, it is good to wel- 
come any article which fills a long-felt want. 



81JBI9IKR PROGRAmniH OP ^WORK. 

General order of work for every day of summer: 

Before leaving your room, throw open windows, top 
and bottom; lay pillows in the sun, bedclothes to air, 
and turn back mattress. 

As soon as you come down stairs, open blinds and 
windows. 

Light kitchen fire ; take up ashes; sift them. 

Brush off the stove; rinse and fill the kettle. 

Sweep the kitchen, the stoop or piazzas, beating all 
mats thoroughly. 

Eemove stale flowers from parlor and dining-room, 
and dust. 

Prepare for breakfast, putting biscuit or muffins to 
bake, while you lay the table. Close blinds on the 
sunny side. 

After breakfast, clear the table as soon as possible, 
putting milk and butter away at once, instead of allow- 
ing them to remain in the hot kitchen. 

Do not leave the white table-cloth on a moment 
longer than necessary, as it attracts flies. For the 
same reason remove the crumbs from the floor. This 
applies to every meal. 

Wash and put away breakfast dishes. 



PROGRESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 179 

Darken the dining-room, pantry and all unused 
rooms. 

Make beds, empty slops, wasli soap-dishes, fill water 
pitchers, fold dry towels, take away soiled ones, — but 
if damp, dry them before putting into the soiled 
clothes-hamper, as everything quickly mildews in hot 
weather. 

Darken rooms after haying put them in perfect 
order. 

Either now or before going up stairs, attend to the 
refrigerator— empty the drip-pan; remove everything 
that will not keep; wipe out sides and shelves with a 
large, coarse sponge kept for the purpose. If milk 
or other article has been spilt in it, wash it out with 
hot water and soda or borax. Keep pieces of char- 
coal in it, which change ofteu, and occasionally, if it 
cannot be aired without danger of food spoiling, put 
a plate of unslached lime in each compartment and 
leave it till it crumbles; this dries the air. 

Then proceed to the special work for the day. (See 
programmes of special work in former chapters. ) 

If you are troubled with flies, the last thing before 
retiring, when all windows and doors are closed, pufE 
Persian insect powder in the air of each room, closing 
the door after. Next morning, if the powder has been 
genuine (there is no article more adulterated, drug- 
gists tell me), you will find the place strewn with the 
slain, and a dusty deposit everywhere. This dust 
is the only objection to the use of powder, but it 
makes no more work than the flies themselves if they 
are unmolested, and is infinitely cleaner than plates 



180 PBOGBESSIVE HOUSEKEEPING. 

of fly poison. The powder is simply the Persian 
camomile, not at all poisonous except to insect life ; 
it may make you sneeze or cough a moment, as "would 
flour or any other dust if the air were filled with it. 
Burn or bury the flies you gather. It is said (but 
I have not tested the matter) that they are only 
stupefied and that after a day or so they come to life 
again. I do know, if this be so, that it takes many 
hours to restore them. 



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Precaution. The Prairie. 

The Spy. Wept of Wish-ton-Wish. 

The Pioneers. The Water Witch. 

The Pilot. The Bravo. 

Lionel Lincoln. The Heidenmauer. 

Last of the Mohicans. The Headsman. 

Red Rover. The Monikins. 

Homeward Bound. Miles Wallingford. 

Home as Found. The Red Skins. 

Tlie Pathfinder. The Chainbearer. 

Mercedes of Castile. Satanstoe. 

The Deerslayer. The Crater. 

The Two Admirals. Jack Tier. 

Wing and Wing. The Sea Lions. 

Wyandotte. Oak Openings. 

Afloat and Ashore. The Ways of the Hour. 

{Each volume sold separately.) 

Each volume I.oo 

The set 32.00 

New Fireside Edition. With forty-five original Illustra- 
tions. In sixteen volumes, i2mo. The set . . . 20.00 
{Sold only in sets.) 

Sea Tales. 'i:ie\f Household Edition, conizxrAwg Intro- 
ductions by Susan Fenimore Cooper. Illustrated. 
First Series. Including — 

The Pilot. The Red Rover. 

The Water Witch. The Two Admirals. 

Wing and Wing. 

Second Series. Including — 

The Sea Lions. Afloat and Ashore. 

Jack Tier. Miles Wallingford. 

The Crater. 

Each set, 5 vols. i6mo 5.00 

Leather-Stocking Tales, "^tvi Household Edition, con- 
taining Introductions by Susan Fenimore Cooper. 
Illustrated. In five volumes, l6mo. 



Houghton^ Mifflin and Company. 3 

The Deerslayer. The Pioneers. 

The Pathfinder. The Prairie. 

Last of the Mohicans. 

The set $5.00 

Cooper Stories ; being Narratives o£ Adventure se- 
lected from his Works. With Illustrations by F. O. 
C. Darley. In three volumes, i6mo, each .... i.oo 

Charles Egbert Craddock. 

In the Tennessee Mountains. i6mo 1.25 

The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains. i6mo . 1.25 

Down the Ravine. Illustrated. i6mo i.oo 

In the Clouds. i6mo 1.25 

The Story of Keedon Bluffs. i6mo i.oo 

The Despot of Broomsedge Cove. i6mo .... 1.25 

Thomas Frederick Crane. 

Italian Popular Tales. Translated from the Italian. 
With Introduction and a Bibliography. 8vo . . . 2.50 

F. Marion Crawford. 

To Leeward. i6mo 1.25 

. A Roman Singer. i6mo 1.25 

An American Politician. i6mo 1.25 

Paul Patoff. Crown 8vo 1.50 

Maria S. Cummins. 

The Lamplighter. i2mo i.oo 

El Fureidis. i2mo 1.50 

Mabel Vaughan. i2mo 1.50 

Parke Danforth. 

Not in the Prospectus. i6mo 1.25 

Daniel De Foe. 

Robinson Crusoe. Illustrated. i6mo i.oo 

Margaret Deland. 

John Ward, Preacher. i2mo 1.50 

P. Deming. 

Adirondack Stories. i8mo 75 

Tompkins and Other Folks. iSmo i.oo 

Thomas De Quincey. 

Romances and Extravaganzas. i2mo 1.50 

Narrative and Miscellaneous Papers. i2mo . . . 1.50 

Charles Dickens. 

Complete Works. Illustrated Library Edition. With 
Introductions by E. P. Whipple. Containing Illus- 
trations by Cruikshank, Phiz, Seymour, Leech, Mac- 



4 Works of Fiction Published by 

lise, and others, on steel, to which are added designs 
of Darley and Gilbert, in all over 550. In twenty- 
nine volumes, i2mo. 
The Pickwick Papers, 2 vols. Dombey and Son, 2 vols. 
Nicholas Nickleby, 2 vols. Pictures from Italy, and 
Oliver Twist. American Notes. 

Old Curiosity Shop, and Re- Bleak House, 2 vols. 
printed Pieces, 2 vols. Little Dorrit, 2 vols. 
Barnaby Rudge, and Hard David Copperfield, 2 vols. 

Times, 2 vols. A Tale of Two Cities. 

Martin Chuzzlewit, 2 vols. Great Expectations. 
Our Mutual Friend, 2 vols. Edwin Drood, Master 
Uncommercial Traveller. Humphrey's Clock, and 

A Child's History of Eng- Other Pieces. 

land, and Other Pieces. Sketches by Boz. 
Christmas Books. 

Each volume $i-50 

The set. With Dickens Dictionary. 30 vols. .45.00 
Christmas Carol. Illustrated. 8vo, full gilt .... 2.50 

The Same. 32mo 75 

Christmas Books. Illustrated. l2mo 2.00 

Charlotte Dunning. 

A Step Aside. i6mo 1.25 

Edgar Fawcett. 

A Hopeless Case. " Little Classic " style. i8mo . 1.25 
A Gentleman of Leisure. " Little Classic " style. i8mo i.oo 
An Ambitious Woman. i2mo 1.50 

Fenelon. 

Adventures of Telemachus. i2mo 2.25 

Mrs. James A. Field. 

High- Lights. i6mo I.25 

Harford Flemming. 

A Carpet Knight. i6mo 1.25 

Baron de la Motte Fouque. 

Undine, Sintram and his Companions, etc. 32mo . . .75 
Undine and Other Tales. Illustrated. i6mo . . . i.oo 

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. 

Wilhelm Meister. Translated by Thomas Carlyl.e. 

Portrait of Goethe. In two volumes. i2mo . . . 3.00 
The Tale and Favorite Poems. 32mo 75 



Houghton, Miffli7t and Company. 5 

Oliver Goldsmith. 

Vicar of Wakefield. Handy-Volume Edition. 241x10, 

gilt top $1.00 

The Same. " Riverside Classics." Illustrated. i6mo i.oo 

Jeanie T. Gould (Mrs. Lincoln). 

Marjorie's Quest. Illustrated. i2mo I.50 

The Guardians. 

A Novel 1.25 

Thomas Chandler Haliburton. 

The Clockmaker ; or, The Sayings and Doings of 

Samuel Slick of Slickville. illustrated. l6mo . I.OO 

A. S. Hardy. 

But Yet a Woman. i6mo 1.25 

The Wind of Destiny. i6mo 1.25 

Miriam Coles Harris. 

Rutledge. Richard Vandermarck. St. Philips. 

The Sutherlands. A Perfect Adonis. Missy. 

Frank Warrington. Happy-Go-Lucky. Phoebe. 

Each volume, i6mo 1.25 

Louie's Last Term at St. Mary's. i6mo i.oo 

Bret Harte. 

The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Sketches. i6mo 1.25 
The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Stories. 

Riverside Aldine Series. i6mo i.oo 

Tales of the Argonauts, and Other Stories. i6mo . 1.25 
Thankful Blossom. " Little Classic " style. i8mo . i.oo 
Two Men of Sandy Bar. A Play. i8mo .... i.oo 

The Story of a Mine. i8mo i.oo 

Drift from Two Shores. i8mo i.oo 

Twins of Table Mountain, etc. i8mo i.oo 

Flip, and Found at Blazing Star. i8mo i.oo 

In the Carquinez Woods. i8mo i.oo 

On the Frontier " Little Classic " style. i8mo . . i.oo 
Works. Rearranged, with an Introduction and a 

Portrait. In six volumes, crown 8vo. 
Poetical Works, and the drama, " Two Men of Sandy 

Bar," with an Introduction and Portrait. 
The Luck of Roaring Camp, and Other Stories. 
Tales of the Argonauts and Eastern Sketches. 
Gabriel Conroy. 
Stories and Condensed Novels. 
Frontier Stories. 

Each volume 2.00 

The set 12.00 



6 Works of Fictio7i Published by 

By Shore and Sedge. i8mo $i.oo 

Maruja. A Novel. i8mo i.oo 

Snow-Bound at Eagle's. i8mo i.oo 

The Queen of the Pirate Isle. A Story for Children. 

Illustrated by Kate Greenaway. Small 4to . . . 1.50 
A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready, and Devil's Ford. 

i8mo I.oo 

The Crusade of the Excelsior. Illustrated. i6mo . 1.25 
A Phyllis of the Sierras, and A Drift from Redwood 

Camp. i8mo i.oo 

The Argonauts of North Liberty. i8mo I.oo 

Wilhelm Hauff. 

Arabian Days Entertainments. Illustrated. i2mo . 1. 50 

Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Works. New Riverside Edition. With an original 
etching in each volume, and a new Portrait. With 
bibliographical notes by George P. Lathrop. Com- 
plete in twelve volumes, crown 8vo. 
Twice-Told Tales. 
Mosses from an Old Manse. 

The House of the Seven Gables, and The Snow-Image. 
The Wonder-Book, Tanglewood Tales, and Grand- 
father's Chair. 
The Scarlet Letter, and The Blithedale Romance. 
The Marble Faun. 

Our Old Home, and English Note-Books. 2 vols. 
American Note-Books. 
French and Italian Note-Books. 
The Dolliver Romance, Fanshawe, Septimius Felton, 

and, in an Appendix, the Ancestral Footstep. 
Tales, Sketches, and Other Papers. With Biograph- 
ical Sketch by G. P. Lathrop, and Indexes. 

Each volume 2.00 

The set 24.00 

New " Little Classic " Edition. Each volume contains 
Vignette Illustration. In twenty-five volumes, iSmo. 

Each volume I.oo 

The set 25.00 

New Wayside Edition. With Portrait, twenty-three 
etchings, and Notes by George P. Lathrop. In 

twenty-four volumes, i2mo 36.00 

New Fireside Edition. In six volumes, l2mo . . . 10.00 
A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. Holiday Edi- 
tion. With Illustrations by F. S. Church. 4to . 2.50 

The Same. i6mo, boards 40 

Tanglewood Tales. With Illustrations by Geo. 

Wharton Edwards. 4to, full gilt 2.50 



Houghton, Mifflin and Company. 7 

The Same. i6mo, boards ;Jo.40 

Twice-Told Tales. School Edition. i8mo .... i.oo 
The Scarlet Letter. Popular Editiott. i2mo ... I.oo 
True Stories from History and Biography. i2mo . 1.25 

The Wonder-Book. i2mo 1.25 

Tanglewood Tales. i2mo 1.25 

The Snow-Image. Illustrated in colors. Small 4to . .75 
Grandfather's Chair. Popular Edition. i6mo, paper 

covers 15 

Tales of the White Hills, and Legends of New Eng- 
land. 32mo 75 

Legends of Province House, and A Virtuoso's Col- 
lection. 32mo 75 

True Stories from New England History. i6mo, 

boards 45 

Little Daffydowndilly, etc. i6mo, paper ,15 

Mrs. S. J. Higginson. 

A Princess of Java. i2mo 1.50 

Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

Elsie Venner. A Romance of Destiny. Crown 8vo . 2.00 

The Guardian Angel. Crown 8vo 2.00 

The Story of Iris. 32mo 75 

My Hunt after the Captain. 32mo 40 

A Mortal Antipathy. Crown 8vo 1.50 

Augustus Hoppin. 

Recollections of Auton House. Illustrated. Small 

4to 1.25 

A Fashionable Sufferer. Illustrated. i2mo . . . 1.50 
Two Compton Boys. Illustrated. Small 4to . . . 1.50 

Blanche Willis Howard. 

One Summer. A Novel. New Popular Edition. Il- 
lustrated by Hoppin. i2mo 1-25 

William Dean Howells. 

Their Wedding Journey. Illustrated. i2mo . . . 1.50 

The Same. " Little Classic" style. i8mo .... i.oo 

A Chance Acquaintance. Illustrated. i2mo . . . 1.50 

The Same. " Little Classic " style. i8mo . . .' . i.oo 

A Foregone Conclusion. i2mo 1.50 

The Lady of the Aroostook. i2mo 1.50 

The Undiscovered Country. i2mo 1.50 

Suburban Sketches. i2mo 1.50 

A Day's Pleasure, etc. 32mo 75 

Thomas Hughes. 

Tom Brown's School-Days at Rugby. Illustrated, i.oo 
Tom Brown at Oxford, ifemo 1.25 



8 Works of Fiction Published by 

Henry James, Jr. 

A Passionate Pilgrim, and Other Tales. i2mo . . $2.00 

Roderick Hudson. i2mo 2.00 

The American. i2mo 2.00 

Watch and Ward. " Little Classic " style. i8mo . 1.25 

The Europeans. i2mo 1.50 

Confidence. i2mo 1.50 

The Portrait of a Lady. l2mo 2.00 

Anna Jameson. 

Studies and Stories. New Edition. i6mo, gilt top . 1.25 
Diary of an Ennuyee. New Edition. i6mo, gilt top . 1.25 

Douglas Jerrold, 

Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures. Illustrated. i6mo . i.oo 

Sarah Orne Jewett, 

Deephaven. iSmo 1.25 

Old Friends and New. iSmo 1.25 

Country By- Ways. i8mo 1.25 

The Mate of the Daylight. i8mo 1.25 

A Country Doctor. i6mo 1.25 

A Marsh Island. i6mo 1.25 

A White Heron, and Other Stories. iSmo .... 1.25 

The King of Folly Island, and Other People. i6mo 1.25 

Rossiter Johnson. 

" Little Classics." Each in one volume. iSmo. 

I. Exile. X. Childhood. 

II. Intellect. XL Heroism. 

III. Tragedy. XII. Fortune. 

IV. Life. XIII. Narrative Poems. 
V. Laughter. XIV. Lyrical Poems. 

VI. Love. XV. Minor Poems. 

VII. Romance. XVI. Nature. 

VIII. Mvstery. XVII. Humanity. 

IX. Comedy. XVIII. Authors. 

Each volume i.oo 

The set 18.00 

Joseph Kirkland. 

Zury : the Meanest Man in Spring County. T2mo . 1.50 
The McVeys. i6mo 1.25 

Charles and Mary Lamb. 

Tales from Shakespeare. i8mo I.oo 

The Same. Illustrated. i6mo i.oo 



Houghton, Mifflin and Company. 9 
Harriet and Sophia Lee. 

Canterbury Tales. In three volumes. The set, l6mo #3.75 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 

Hyperion. A Romance. i6mo 1.50 

Popular Edition. i6mo 40 

Popular Edition. Paper covers, i6mo 15 

Outre-Mer. i6mo 1.50 

Popular Edition. i6mo 40 

Popular Edition. Paper covers, i6mo 15 

Kavanagh. i6mo 1.50 

Hyperion, Outre-Mer and Kavanagh. 2 vols, crown 8vo 3.00 

Flora Haines Loughead. 

The Man who was Guilty. i6mo 1.25 

D. R. McAnally. 

Irish Wonders. Illustrated. Small 4to 2.00 

S. Weir Mitchell. 

In War Time. i6mo 1.25 

Roland Blake. i6mo ... I.25 

Lucy Gibbons Morse. 

The Chezzles. Illustrated 

The Notable Series. 

One Summer. By Blanche Willis Howard. 
The Luck of Roarmg Camp. By Bret Harte. 
Backlog Studies. By C. D. Warner. 

The set, 3 vols. i6mo 3.75 

Mrs. M. O. W. Oliphant and T. B. Aldrich. 

The Second Son. Crown 8vo r.50 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. 

The Gates Ajar. i6mo 1.50 

Beyond the Gates. i6mo 1.25 

The Gates Between. i6mo 1.25 

Men, Women, and Ghosts. i6mo 1.50 

Hedged In. i6mo 1.50 

The Silent Partner. i6mo 1.50 

The Story of Avis. i6mo 1.50 

Sealed Orders, and Other Stories. i6mo 1.50 

Friends: A Duet. i6mo 1.25 

Doctor Zay. i6mo 1.25 

An Old Maid's Paradise, and Burglars in Paradise . 1.25 

Madonna of the Tubs. Illustrated. i2mo .... 1.50 

Jack the Fisherman. Illustrated. Square i2mo . . .50 



lo Works of Fiction Published by 

Marian C. L. Reeves and Emily Read. 

Pilot Fortune. i6mo $1.25 

J. P. Quincy. 

The Peckster Professorship. i6mo 1.25 

Josiah Royce. 

The Feud of Oakfield Creek. i6mo 1.25 

Joseph Xavier Boniface Saintine. 

Picciola. Illustrated. i6mo I.oo 

Jacques Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre. 

Paul and Virginia. Illustrated. i6mo i.oo 

The Same, together with Undine, and Sintram. 32mo .75 

Sir Walter Scott. 

The Waverley Novels. Illustrated Library Edition. 
Illustrated with 100 engravings by Darley, Dielman, 
Fredericks, Low, Share, Sheppard. With glossary 
and a full index of characters. In 25 volumes, i2mo. 

Waverley. The Antiquary. 

Guy Mannering. Rob Roy. 

Old Mortality. St. Ronan's Well. 

Black Dwarf, and Legend Redgauntlet. 
of Montrose. The Betrothed, and The 

Heart of Mid-Lothian. Highland Widow. 

Bride of Lammermoor. The Talisman, and Other 

Ivanhoe. Tales. 

The Monastery. Woodstock. 

The Abbot. The Fair Maid of Perth. 

Kenilworth. Anne of Geierstein. 

The Pirate. Count Robert of Paris. 

The Fortunes of Nigel. The Surgeon's Daughter, 

Peveril of the Peak. and Castle Dangerous. 

Quentin Durward. 

Each volume I.oo 

The set 25.00 

Tales of a Grandfather. Illustrated Library Edition. 

With six steel plates. In three volumes, i2rno . . 4.50 

Horace E. Scudder. 

The Dwellers in Five-Sisters' Court. i6mo .... 1.25 

Stories and Romances. i6mo 1.25 

The Children's Book. Edited by Mr. Scudder. Small 

4to 2.50 

Mark Sibley Severance. 

Hammersmith : His Harvard Days. i2mo .... 1.50 



Houghton, Mifflin and Company. ii 
J. E. Smith. 

Oakridge : An Old-Time Story of Maine. i2mo . . $2.00 

Mary A. Sprague. 

An Earnest Trifler. i6mo 1.25 

William W. Story. 

Fiammetta. i6mo 1,25 

Harriet Beecher Stowe. 

Agnes of Sorrento. i2mo 1.50 

The Pearl of Orr's Island. i2mo 1.50 

Uncle Tom's Cabin. Illustrated Edition. i2mo . . 2.00 

The Minister's Wooing- i2mo 1.50 

The Mayflower, and Other Sketches. i2mo . . . 1.50 

Dred. New Edition, from new plates. i2mo . . . 1.50 

Oldtown Folks. i2mo 1.50 

Sam Lawson's Fireside Stories. i2mo 1.50 

My Wife and I. Illustrated. i2mo 1.50 

We and Our Neighbors. Illustrated. i2mo . . . 1.50 

Poganuc People. Illustrated. i2mo 1.50 

The above eleven volumes, in box 16.00 

Uncle Tom's Cabin. Holiday Edition. With Intro- 
duction, and Bibliography by George Bullen, of the 

British Museum. Over 100 Illustrations. i2mo . 3.00 

The Same. Popular Edition. i2mo i.oo 

Octave Thanet. 

Knitters in the Sun. i6mo 1.25 

Gen. Lew Wallace. 

The Fair God ; or, The Last of the 'Tzins. i2mo . 1.50 
Henry Watterson. 

Oddities in Southern Life. Illustrated. l6mo . . . 1.50 

Richard Grant White. 

The Fate of Mansfield Humphreys, with the Episode 

of Mr. Washington Adams in England. i6mo . . 1.25 

Adeline D. T. Whitney. 

Faith Gartney's Girlhood. Illustrated. i2mo . . . 1.50 

Hitherto: A Story of Yesterda3's. i2mo .... 1.50 

Patience Strong's Outings. i2mo 1.50 

The Gayworthys. i2mo 1.5° 

Leslie Goldthwaite. Illustrated. lamo 1.50 

We Girls : A Home Story. Illustrated. i2mo . . 1.50 

Real Folks. Illustrated. i2mo 1.50 



12 Works of Fiction. 

The Other Girls. Illustrated. i2mo $1.50 

Sights and Insights. 2 vols. i2ino 3.00 

Odd, or Even ? i2mo 1.50 

Boys at Chequasset. Illustrated. i2mo 1.50 

Bonnyborough. i2mo 1.50 

Homespun Yarns. Short Stories. i2mo .... 1.50 

Justin Winsor. 

Was Shakespeare Shapleigh? A Correspondence in 
Two Entanglements. Edited by Justin Winsor. 
Parchment-paper, i6mo 75 

Lillie Chace Wyman. 

Poverty Grass. i6mo 1.25 



LIBRARY 




